Former UCLA gynecologist James Heaps pleads guilty to sexual abuse crimes after conviction was overturned
Former UCLA gynecologist James Heaps pleaded guilty inside a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Tuesday to 13 felony counts of sex abuse involving five women.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo immediately sentenced Heaps to 11 years in prison, which was the same term he was serving before his October 2023 conviction was overturned. He is also required to register as a sex offender.
The Woodland Hills former doctor admitted to sexually assaulting five female patients from 2011 to 2018, and pleaded guilty to six felony counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person, five felony counts of sexual battery by fraud, and two felony counts of sexual exploitation of a patient.
"Today, after a basically 7-year journey ... James Heaps is not known as Doctor James Heaps, he will be known for history and for the ensuing years as convicted felon, James Heaps," LA District Attorney Nathan Hochman said at a Tuesday news conference.
One of the survivors who read an impact statement in court on Tuesday said "justice was served" after hearing Heaps plead guilty.
"While no sentence can restore what was taken from me or from any survivor, this matters," she said. "It matters because we showed up, we reported, we refused to be silent."
His guilty plea on Tuesday came after his previous conviction for sexual abuse charges involving two women was reversed by an appeals court in February.
Heaps, 69, was convicted of three counts of sexual battery by fraud and two counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person. He was acquitted of seven charges, 21 counts, and Judge Michael Carter, who presided over the case, declared a mistrial on the final nine counts on which jurors were deadlocked.
In February 2025, a three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal ordered a retrial after overturning his conviction, citing concerns about a possible language barrier involving one of the jurors who found Heaps guilty. The panel stated that the problem was too grave not to order a retrial.
According to the appeals court's 31-page ruling, the panel found that Carter had sent his judicial assistant to speak to the jury about a foreperson's note describing the jurors' concern that one of their colleagues did not speak English well enough to deliberate with the group.
The panel ruled that Heaps was denied a fair trial because the judge did not share with his defense counsel a note by the court's foreman pointing out concerns that one juror lacked sufficient English to carry out their duties.
Heaps' attorney, Leonard Levine, said he and his team were not aware of the note or that there was any question about a juror's ability to serve until two years later, when an attorney working on an appeal discovered it in a court file.
Heaps was accused of sexually assaulting hundreds of patients during his 35-year career and UCLA made nearly $700 million in payouts over lawsuits connected to the allegations — a record amount at the time for a public university.
Hochman addressed survivors during an afternoon news conference, hoping that Heaps' sentence would provide some closure.
"For years, Heaps exploited the sacred trust between a doctor and patient to prey on vulnerable victims during medical procedures. This sentence ensures that Heaps will finally be held accountable for the harm he inflicted under the guise of care," Hochman said.
