Los Angeles
A former University of California, Los Angeles, gynecologist pleaded guilty to sexual abuse expenses Tuesday in reference to the sexual assault of a number of sufferers over his profession, after an appeals court docket reversed his conviction earlier this 12 months.
James Heaps was originally sentenced in 2023 to 11 years in jail after being convicted of 5 counts of sexual battery and penetration involving two sufferers. It was overturned by an appeals court docket in February, which dominated that Heaps was denied a fair trial as a result of the decide didn’t share along with his attorneys a be aware from the court docket’s foreman sharing considerations a few juror’s English proficiency.
Instead of going to trial once more, Heaps pleaded guilty to 13 felonies involving a complete of 5 victims and was once more sentenced to 11 years in jail.
After his conviction was overturned in February, his legal professional Leonard Levine stated he believed “it’s just a matter of time before he is totally exonerated.”
Levine didn’t instantly reply to an emailed request for touch upon the guilty plea.
The famend UCLA campus gynecologist was indicted in 2021 on a number of counts every of sexual battery by fraud, sexual exploitation of a affected person and sexual penetration of an unconscious individual by fraudulent illustration. The expenses have been linked to the sexual assaults of seven girls between 2009 and 2018.
In the wake of the scandal that erupted in 2019 following the physician’s arrest, UCLA agreed to pay almost $700 million in lawsuit settlements to lots of of Heaps’ sufferers — a report quantity by a public college amid a wave of sexual misconduct scandals by campus medical doctors lately.
UCLA sufferers stated Heaps groped them, made suggestive feedback or performed unnecessarily invasive exams throughout his 35-year profession.
John Manly, who represented greater than 200 of Heaps’ former sufferers in lawsuits towards the college, stated Heaps’ guilty plea and sentence sends a transparent message that “there will be severe consequences for any violation of patients’ rights and dignity.”