A University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) chemistry professor Patrick Harran has been ordered Friday to stand trial on felony charges stemming from a laboratory fire that killed staff research assistant Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji in 2008, according to reports.
The UCLA professor Harran,43, faces up to 4 and a half years in prison if he is convicted of all three counts of violating occupational health and safety standards in his organic chemistry laboratory, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Harran is due back in court May 9 for arraignment on three counts of willful violation of an occupational safety and health standard causing the death of an employee.
"We fully expect to vindicate Professor Harran," his attorney, Thomas O'Brien, said after the hearing. "This was an accident, a tragic accident. We have always maintained that, as the University of California has, and we expect him to be vindicated."
The research assistant, was not wearing a protective lab coat Dec. 29, 2008, when a plastic syringe she was using to transfer t-butyl lithium from one sealed container to another came apart, emitting a chemical compound that ignites when exposed to air. Sangji, 23, suffered extensive burns and died 18 days later.
"This is not the run of the mill case, not the run of the mill crime," Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench said, adding that the death of Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji was "an incredibly tragic event."
UCLA and Harran have said Sangji's death was an accident, noting she was an experienced chemist who was trained in the experiment and chose not to wear a protective lab coat.
The University of California regents were charged along with Harran in 2011, but that case was later dismissed after officials there agreed to adopt a list of safety measures and establish a $500,000 scholarship in the Sangji's name, according to Reuters.
