Selection of Jury Starts in Physician’s Murder Trial

Scores of potential jurors filed into a Pasadena courtroom Wednesday for jury selection in the trial of Kevin Paul Anderson, a prominent Pasadena doctor accused of strangling a pregnant colleague.

Anderson is accused of killing Dr. Deepta Gupta, 33, on Nov. 11 on a secluded San Gabriel Mountain road because he feared she would expose their romantic relationship to his wife, then dumping her car and body off a cliff.

Jury selection is expected to take more than a week and could canvass more than 400 people. The trial, which lists about 125 potential witnesses, is expected to last until Thanksgiving--and possibly into mid-December. Most potential jurors will be eliminated because serving that long would cause them financial or personal hardship.

Anderson, of La Verne, has pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree murder, which includes the special circumstance of lying in wait. That allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

On Wednesday, jurors who made it past the initial hardship test were then given a questionnaire to, among other things, ascertain whether they were against the death penalty. They were also asked about their knowledge of the high-profile case.

Anderson’s attorney, Michael Abzug of Los Angeles, has maintained that his client did not commit murder. Jurors could find that Anderson acted in the heat of passion and instead convict him of voluntary manslaughter, which carries an 11-year sentence.

Even before jury selection, the prosecutor in the case revealed that she may portray Anderson as a sexual harasser at Pasadena’s Huntington Memorial Hospital, where he and Gupta worked.

Deputy Dist Atty. Marian M.J. Thompson made the statement in opposition to a motion by Court TV to broadcast the trial live and in its entirety.

Thompson said the telecast would not only compromise the privacy of Gupta’s family, but also that of witnesses who will testify about the alleged sexual harassment. “These people were fearful of reporting it,” Thompson said.

Karen N. Frederiksen, an attorney representing Court TV, argued that the public should be able to view events firsthand as they unfold in the courtroom. “This is an important trial. It is a murder trial. It involves the medical community,” she said.

Pasadena Superior Court Judge Teri Schwartz rejected the motion, however, citing the privacy of Gupta’s and Anderson’s families, “given the nature of the allegations.”

“Both families have already suffered tremendously,” Schwartz said. “[Televising] the case would cause further humiliation.”

The district attorney’s office says Anderson lured Gupta, a pediatrician and mother of a toddler, to the Angeles Crest Highway several miles north of La Canada Flintridge with the intent of taking her life.

Anderson allegedly choked Gupta with a necktie until she was unconscious, doused her body with gasoline, then pushed her Mercedes sport utility vehicle off a cliff, grand jury transcripts show.

A passing motorist saw the incident and reported it to the U.S. Forest Service. Sheriff’s deputies subsequently arrested Anderson, whose vehicle had gotten stuck on the mountain road.

In a recorded confession last November, Anderson told sheriff’s detectives he strangled Gupta because she threatened to tell his family about their affair and threatened to harm his 8-year-old daughter. Anderson told detectives he lost his temper, grabbed her and choked her with a Snoopy necktie.

Last month, during a pretrial hearing over use of the tape-recorded statement, Anderson publicly acknowledged having choked Gupta.

Grand jury transcripts also show that before the panel indicted Anderson in January, it was told by Thompson that his motive was personal: He suspected Gupta was pregnant with his child, and she threatened to expose their affair.

The issue of Gupta’s pregnancy was reflected Wednesday in the jury questionnaire. One of the 84 questions included: “Would the fact the victim was pregnant at the time of the homicide, if proved, impact your decision on whether or not to impose the death penalty in this case?”

At the time of the killing, Anderson was head of pediatric medicine at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Pasadena. The two doctors, who also worked together at Huntington Hospital, had planned to open a joint practice. But Anderson backed out after his wife grew jealous and upset over the deal, according to grand jury testimony.

On the day of Gupta’s death, prosecutors say, Anderson ignored her phone calls, forcing her to meet with him. Prosecutors allege that Anderson tried to create an alibi that night by paying a visit to St Luke’s just hours before the killing, telling nurses he would be making his rounds.