Judge denies 2nd motion to dismiss James Heaps’ sexual assault indictment
A state judge declined to dismiss former UCLA OB-GYN James Heaps’ sexual assault indictment in a court hearing Sept. 17. (Courtesy of Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
By Justin Jung
Sept. 26, 2021 3:30 p.m.
A second court motion to dismiss a sexual assault indictment against former UCLA OB-GYN James Heaps was denied Sept. 17.
Heaps, a former David Geffen School of Medicine faculty member and OB-GYN at UCLA Health, was indicted in late May by a grand jury on 21 counts of felony sexual assault.
Heaps’ motion for reconsideration was filed by Leonard Levine, a lawyer representing Heaps, following the denial of a previous court motion to dismiss the indictment. The motion for reconsideration asked the Los Angeles Superior Court to reverse its previous ruling declining to dismiss Heaps’ indictment.
[Related: Motion to dismiss former UCLA OB-GYN James Heaps’ indictment denied by judge]
The original motion to dismiss had been filed on the grounds that the prosecutor had not met the legal evidence requirement to present all available evidence that could support Heaps’ innocence before the grand jury. Judge Kathleen Kennedy denied the motion to dismiss on Aug. 13.
Levine said in an emailed statement that Heaps’ legal team was disappointed by the denial of the motion for reconsideration but hopes that an appeal filed on Aug. 30 with the California 2nd District Court of Appeal will overturn the ruling. Levine also maintained that the prosecution had failed to meet exculpatory evidence requirements.
Heaps will next appear in court Oct. 8 for a pretrial conference at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
