You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
Patrick Harran, a professor of chemistry at the University of California at Los Angles, reached a deal Friday with California prosecutors under which he will avoid jail time in the laboratory accident death of one of his assistants in 2008, The Los Angeles Times reported. Harran faced felony counts related to alleged violations of state health and safety standards and could have served more than four years in prison if convicted. Under the deal -- opposed by the lab assistant's family -- Harran did not admit wrongdoing. He did pledge to create and teach an organic chemistry course for college-bound urban students for five summers, to perform 800 hours of community service and to pay $10,000 to a burn center.
