Jury to Start Deliberating Anew in Doctor’s Trial

A judge told jurors in the trial of Dr. Milos Klvana, who is accused of murdering infants through poor medical care, to begin their deliberations anew Monday after dismissing a juror who brought a dictionary into the jury room.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Judith C. Chirlin instructed the jury to start over after nine days of deliberations because the juror had to be replaced with an alternate. Chirlin dismissed the juror for seeking the dictionary definition of malice, which has a legal definition central to the murder charges against Klvana that was defined by the judge in her instructions to the jury.

Klvana, 49, a Valencia obstetrician, is charged with nine counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of eight infants and a fetus between 1982 and 1986. He also faces 45 other felony charges such as insurance fraud, perjury, grand theft and conspiracy to unlawfully practice medicine.