Pediatrician Gets 20 Years to Life for Killing Pregnant Lover

A Pasadena pediatrician who sought probation after being convicted of murdering a colleague who was pregnant with his child was sentenced Thursday to 20 years to life in prison.

Dr. Kevin Paul Anderson, 42, a prominent local physician and former head of pediatrics at St. Luke’s Medical Center, was convicted of second-degree murder in December for killing Dr. Deepti Gupta, 33. Anderson strangled Gupta with his tie, doused her body with gasoline and pushed her car over a cliff in the Angeles National Forest in November 1999.

“This has been a terrible, terrible tragedy for everyone involved,” Anderson said in court Thursday. “I cannot even begin to describe with words how I feel about what has happened. . . . It is beyond sorry.”

But despite pleas by Anderson’s defense lawyer, Pasadena Superior Court Judge Teri Schwartz refused to change the jury’s verdict to voluntary manslaughter and grant probation.

“This is a classic murder case,” Schwartz said.

The judge said she had never been asked to consider probation for a murder case.

Gupta’s husband, Vijay, called Anderson an animal who preyed on women.

“This man is not showing any remorse,” Gupta said. “He is a disease to society, worse than AIDS.”

In seeking probation, defense attorney Michael E. Abzug said Anderson had been painted by prosecutors as a “latter-day Lothario” when in fact he was “a decent person, notwithstanding his conviction.”

Anderson’s wife and a childhood friend also spoke on his behalf.

As Heidi Anderson pledged to continue supporting her husband if probation were granted, Anderson turned and smiled slightly.

“I feel like a victim, partially, in this too,” Heidi Anderson said. “I totally believe in him. I don’t believe he planned this.”

A request by Deputy Dist. Atty. Marian Thompson to show a video of Gupta with her then-3-year-old daughter and some of the child’s letters and drawings was denied.

“I don’t need any additional evidence or arguments from the people,” Schwartz said.

Physicians and friends speaking on behalf of Gupta expressed anger and outrage at her death.

Dr. Nilesh Desai, a Burbank physician, requested a minute of silence in her memory. “That is one minute. It takes 5-6 minutes for death by strangulation,” he said.

Schwartz said Anderson committed great bodily harm to Gupta, a woman who had looked up to him as a mentor and had every reason to trust him. The two physicians had worked together at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena.

“The tragedy of this situation is unbelievable,” Schwartz said.

The sentence includes five years because of Gupta’s pregnancy, plus 15 years to life.

During the trial, prosecutors said Anderson and Gupta had been lovers when Anderson, fearful that Gupta would reveal their relationship and ruin his career, killed her.

Vijay Gupta said Anderson’s supporters could not be aware of the pain he had caused.

“Just come and spend one day at my house,” Gupta said. “And you will be ashamed.”