Judge OKs effort to retry ex-UCLA campus gynecologist
BURBANK (CNS) — A judge on Friday granted the prosecution’s request to retry former UCLA campus gynecologist James Mason Heaps on nine remaining sex-related charges on which jurors deadlocked last year involving former patients.
Superior Court Judge Michael D. Carter denied a defense motion to dismiss the deadlocked counts against Heaps.
“So, when I look at this as a whole, I believe that all sides have a right to the finality of this case, and the only way that we’re going to reach the finality is to have the jury review the counts that were hung and to retry those counts,” the judge said.
Heaps is due back at the Burbank courthouse Nov. 13 for a hearing on an expected defense motion to delay his trial.
“We’ve now got to hire additional counsel,” said Heaps’ attorney, Tracy Green, who did not represent him during his first trial.
Heaps was sentenced in April to 11 years in state prison after being convicted in October 2022 of charges involving two women. He has remained behind bars since being taken into custody after the verdict, and appeared in court in orange jail clothes during Friday’s hearing.
Green — who objected to the deadlocked counts being retried — told the judge there was no reason to believe that another jury would reach a verdict on those charges.
Heaps’ attorney suggested the court could dismiss the counts without prejudice so the prosecution could bring those charges again if Heaps is successful in his pending appeal involving the counts on which he was convicted.
Deputy District Attorney Danette Meyers cited the “serious nature of the case” and told the judge “the victims have a right to justice.”
The prosecutor said she didn’t want another “Tyndall situation here,” referring to the case against former USC campus gynecologist George Tyndall, who died last month at age 76 while awaiting trial on charges stemming from alleged sexual misconduct with 16 patients.
Outside court, Heaps’ attorney questioned why it took prosecutors until August to announce that they wanted to retry the counts on which jurors hung.
“I think part of this is political,” Green told reporters. “What does the LA DA’s office do when someone accuses them of being soft on crime? Why wait — what a year — after the jury verdict and then say we’re going to retry and then try to jam the defense? They could have announced it three weeks after the sentencing. They chose not to.”
She noted that there could be yet another retrial if a state appeals court panel were to eventually reverse her client’s October 2022 conviction.