Death Penalty to Be Sought for Doctor Accused of Murder

Prosecutors announced Wednesday that they will seek the death penalty for a prominent Pasadena neonatologist accused of strangling a pregnant colleague on a secluded San Gabriel Mountains road, then dumping her body off a cliff.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Marianne Thompson made the formal announcement during a pretrial hearing in Pasadena Superior Court for Dr. Kevin Paul Anderson, whose wife and a few friends sat nearby in the courtroom.

Anderson, 41, was indicted by a grand jury earlier this year in the Nov. 11, 1999, murder of Dr. Deepti Gupta, 33, his alleged former lover.

The murder count includes the special circumstances of lying in wait. That allegation means prosecutors believe Anderson enticed Gupta to meet him for the purpose of killing her, and it allows them to seek the death penalty.

Anderson, who has pleaded not guilty, showed little emotion in court Wednesday, either talking with his attorney or mouthing words to his wife. The athletic Anderson, dressed in a yellow county-issue V-neck shirt and blue pants, looked as though he was ready to see patients--except that his hands were handcuffed behind his back.

Pasadena Superior Court Judge Teri Schwartz set a tentative trial date of Oct. 18 and lawyers in the case told the judge they expect the trial to last four weeks.

Outside court, Anderson’s attorney, Michael E. Abzug, declined to comment on the prosecutors’ decision to seek the death penalty.

Prosecutors allege that Anderson lured Gupta, a pediatrician and mother of a toddler, to Angeles Crest Highway several miles north of La Canada Flintridge with the intent of taking her life.

In January, Thompson told the grand jury that Anderson choked Gupta until she was unconscious, strangled her with a necktie, doused her body with gasoline, then pushed her Mercedes sport utility vehicle off a cliff, transcripts show.

A passing motorist saw the car plunge off the cliff. He reported the incident to the U.S. Forest Service, and sheriff’s deputies subsequently arrested Anderson, whose vehicle had gotten stuck on the mountain road.

Anderson allegedly admitted to sheriff’s homicide detectives that he strangled Gupta during what he said was a heated argument over a failed business partnership.

But Thompson told the grand jurors that Anderson’s motive was more personal: He suspected Gupta was pregnant with his child and she had made threats to tell his wife about their love affair.

DNA tests on Anderson and the fetus have been conducted but the results remain sealed. But as evidence of the affair, prosecutors presented grand jurors with two love notes found near Gupta’s body, the testimony of Gupta’s spiritual advisor and hotel records.

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 Pasadena’s Huntington Memorial 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.

Gupta, of Glendale, however, threatened to reveal the affair after Anderson allegedly tried to steal patients she considered her own, according to 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.

Before the October trial, a hearing is scheduled on several motions by Anderson’s attorney to suppress evidence, including the allegedly incriminating statement to detectives and items taken from his La Verne home and car.

Anderson’s attorney, Abzug, maintains that his client never confessed to murder and that a portion of Anderson’s statement is missing from the tape recording of the investigator’s interview. If a judge finds that the tape was deliberately tampered with, the remainder of Anderson’s recorded statement could be thrown out, Abzug said.

Recent motions submitted to the court by Abzug have been sealed by the judge, as have parts of the 341-page grand jury transcript apparently related to Anderson’s alleged confession and Gupta’s pregnancy.