D.A. Won't Charge HIV Skeptic

But in a separate development, the Medical Board of California filed an accusation this week against one of the 3-year-old girl's doctors, citing gross negligence in his treatment of her.

Los Angeles police had been investigating whether Maggiore and her husband, Robin Scovill, were negligent in not testing or treating Eliza Jane Scovill for human immunodeficiency virus prior to her May 2005 death.

Maggiore, who is HIV-positive, has said that she did not take antiviral medications during her pregnancy and that she did not have her daughter tested for the virus after birth.

In a one-page document made public Friday, Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley's office said it didn't have sufficient evidence to proceed against Maggiore, 50, or Scovill, 37.

"We are all oftentimes moved by our own sense of what's right and what's wrong, but we are governed by the law," said Victoria Adams, head deputy of the office's family violence division.

The medical board's own investigation led to an accusation filed Wednesday against Dr. Paul Fleiss, a popular if sometimes unconventional Los Feliz pediatrician. The agency says Fleiss did not take steps to ensure that Eliza Jane was tested for HIV or, alternatively, note in her chart that her parents had refused testing.

Fleiss also did not offer to treat the girl with antiviral therapy to reduce the risk that the virus would be transmitted through breast milk or recommend that Maggiore stop breast-feeding while the child's HIV status was unknown.

The medical board also cited Fleiss' care of another child who is HIV-positive in seeking the revocation or suspension of his medical license.

Fleiss gained some publicity in the 1990s as the father of Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss. He was sentenced to three years' probation for conspiring to shield the profits of his daughter's call-girl ring from the Internal Revenue Service, among other things.

Fleiss was out of the office Friday and could not be reached for comment. He told The Times last year that he could not understand why Eliza Jane died and that he had never seen her seriously ill.