Disgraced ex-UCLA gynecologist James Heaps was sentenced to 11 years in jail Wednesday, practically two years after he was indicted for sexually abusing his sufferers whereas working on the college.
Heaps, 66, has been in custody since October, when a jury discovered him responsible of three counts of sexual battery by fraud and two counts of sexual penetration of two sufferers.
Heaps, a retired most cancers specialist, appeared in a Burbank courtroom Wednesday carrying an orange jail jumpsuit, neat goatee and glasses. He didn’t testify or make any statements after he was sentenced by Choose Michael D. Carter.
Whereas he was charged with 21 felony counts, Heaps was discovered not responsible of seven different counts, together with one among sexual exploitation. Carter declared a mistrial on 9 sex-related counts resulting from a deadlocked jury.
Jurors discovered that Heaps’ victims had been notably susceptible and that he abused a place of belief as their physician.
The assaults date from 2013 to 2017, the portion of his tenure that falls throughout the statute of limitations for which legal prices could possibly be introduced.
The College of California system has agreed to pay practically $700 million to settle lawsuits introduced by a whole bunch of Heaps’ alleged victims.
Victims mentioned in written statements they nonetheless undergo excessive anxiousness and not belief male docs due to the sexual abuse by Heaps.
“I’m nonetheless residing with numerous anxiousness. I’ve gone to some very darkish locations in my ideas,” Jane T. mentioned in a written assertion that was learn in courtroom earlier than the sentencing.
Natalie B., one of many ladies Heaps was discovered responsible of abusing, mentioned she gave delivery to a few daughters on the UCLA medical facility the place Heaps labored.
“I used to be proud to be a affected person there,” Natalie B. mentioned in a press release learn in courtroom by a prosecutor. “It has been completely ruined. … The defendant has made the place the place my infants had been born a traumatizing set off.”
His victims trusted “their our bodies and lives” to Heaps resulting from his popularity as a world-renowned most cancers specialist, Carter mentioned.
After he serves his sentence, Heaps shall be required to register as a intercourse offender. He has already served greater than a 12 months in jail awaiting trial.
Prosecutors requested for a 13-year-prison sentence, the utmost period of time beneath the convictions of which Heaps was discovered responsible.
Assistant Head Deputy Dist. Atty. Danette Meyers mentioned Heaps sexually abused his sufferers out of conceitedness, as a result of he thought he may get away with it.
“We maintain our docs to a sure stage of professionalism. We go to them with our most critical points in life and we are saying to them: ‘Assist us,’” Meyers mentioned. “Now he’s bought to face the music and pay for it.”
She took concern with the protection legal professional’s claims that Heaps must be given a lower-end sentence.
“What the defendant did on this case was unsuitable,” Meyers mentioned. “These victims suffered this unsuitable.”
Heaps’ protection attorneys requested the courtroom to think about his in depth profession as an oncologist and gynecologist.
“He gave numerous his profession to UCLA,” legal professional Tracy Brown mentioned earlier than he was sentenced. “He’s somebody who has achieved numerous good in his life.”
“It is a blip in that profession,” Brown mentioned.
Earlier than he was sentenced, Heaps requested for a brand new trial for a number of causes, together with his declare that he obtained ineffective recommendation from his legal professional to not testify through the legal trial and that might have modified the jury’s verdict.
Carter denied the request, ruling that an legal professional wouldn’t be capable to hold a consumer from testifying.
Whereas his attorneys argued for a brand new trial earlier than Carter, Heaps repeatedly wrote notes to his protection crew and anxiously fidgeted in his chair.
He was denied probation after Carter heard arguments from the attorneys.
Regardless of years of complaints about Heaps, who handled about 6,000 sufferers throughout his tenure, it was not till late 2017 that allegations of sexual misconduct had been reported to UCLA’s Title IX workplace and a proper investigation was opened.
Heaps was allowed to proceed seeing sufferers — each through the investigation and after UCLA knowledgeable the physician his contract wouldn’t be renewed when it expired on June 30, 2018. UCLA lastly ended Heaps’ employment and notified the police of the allegations towards him in June 2018.
Heaps was arrested a 12 months later and charged with two counts of sexual battery by fraud and one depend of sexual exploitation in reference to acts involving two sufferers. Till that arrest, UCLA had not made public or advised former sufferers {that a} 12 months earlier than, Heaps had been investigated for sexual abuse. Subsequently, a grand jury indicted him on 21 felonies involving seven victims.
Los Angeles Instances reporter Richard Winton contributed to this report.
