California Appeals Court Overturns UCLA Gynecologist Conviction

A California appeals court has overturned the 2022 conviction of a former University of California, Los Angeles gynecologist accused of sexually abusing patients, ordering a new trial due to a procedural error that deprived the defendant of a fair hearing.

The three-judge panel of the California 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled Monday that Dr. James Heaps, 69, was denied his constitutional right to counsel when the trial judge failed to disclose a note from the jury foreperson during deliberations in October 2022. The note raised concerns about an alternate juror, seated just two days before the verdict after another juror fell ill, who appeared to have a limited command of English that hindered deliberations. The foreperson wrote that the juror had expressed his limited English interfered with understanding testimony, that his mind seemed already made up, and that it was causing every case to be the same. California law prohibits jurors from serving if they lack sufficient English proficiency.

The note, sent about an hour after the alternate juror was seated, was never shared with prosecutors or defense attorneys. It surfaced more than a year later, in 2024, when an attorney...