Schools
Hearing Resumes Monday for UCLA Prof Charged in Lab Death Case
UCLA chemistry professor Patrick Harran faces four and a half years in prison if convicted of the charges.
The hearing for UCLA chemistry professor Patrick Harran, 43, is set to continue Monday after a doctor on Friday gave testimony about a staff research assistant who died after being injured in a 2008 laboratory fire at the school.
Dr. Peter H. Grossman on Friday told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench that nearly half of Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji's "total body surface area" had been burned.
The hearing will determine if there is enough evidence to require Harran to stand trial on three felony counts of willful violation of an occupational safety and health standard causing the death of an employee.
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The charges stem from a December 2008 lab fire. Sangji, 23, died Jan. 16, 2009.
Harran was charged last December along with the Regents of the University of California.
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Criminal charges against the UC regents were dismissed in late July as the result of an "enforcement agreement" that called for corrective measures.
Harran faces four and a half years in prison if convicted of the charges, according to the District Attorney's Office.
—City News Service contributed to this report.
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