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Post by TheTruth on Sept 17, 2003 22:50:32 GMT -5
ARTICLES
Lawyer: Heir doped, raped women By Grace Lee Staff Writer Pasadena Star News VENTURA -- Max Factor heir Andrew Luster used a date-rape drug to lure his victims into a sense of security and euphoria before raping three unconscious women and videotaping several of the encounters, a prosecutor told the jury Monday. Senior prosecutor Maeve Fox said in her opening statement that Luster, 38, who lives in the beachside community of Mussel Shoals, "preys on young, vulnerable women" by drugging them with gamma hydroxy butyrate, a drug also known as "Liquid X." Luster, who is charged with 87 counts, including rape, sexual battery and poisoning, faces life in prison if he is convicted. Luster has been free after posting $1 million bail and is allowed to leave his house from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fox showed the jury slides of frames taken from the videos and warned them that it is their responsibility to watch the sexually explicit tapes during the course of the trial. "When you watch the tapes, don't let what you see on the tapes stun you into inertia," she told jurors. Fox also displayed a transcribed interview of Luster in a slide presentation. According to the transcript, Luster told authorities that if one of the alleged victims filed charges, she would "look like a fool." "I'll get a top-notch lawyer and she'll be ripped apart," Luster said in the interview. "I'm a well-known figure in the beach culture. I can't screw up. I have too many things going on. I'm not going to lose my money." Defense attorney Roger Jon Diamond decided to give his opening statement behind closed doors -- out of the jury's presence -- in order to ensure that his arguments do not introduce evidence or theories that Judge Ken Riley previously had ruled inadmissible. It was not clear whether Diamond will present an opening statement when the trial resumes today. Judge Ken Riley ruled last week that videotapes of Luster and one of the alleged victims having consensual sex were inadmissible. Defense lawyers had contended that Luster was a producer of pornographic videos whose tapes recorded women only pretending to be unconscious. The great-grandson of movie makeup mogul Max Factor was arrested after Ventura County sheriff's deputies raided his home in July 2000 in a search prompted by accusations of rape filed by a Santa Barbara woman known publicly as Carey Doe. Deputies found 17 videotapes and photographs of Luster having sex with apparently unconscious women. Prosecutors alleged that in addition to the three woman he is charged with raping between 1996 and 2000, he assaulted many women who have not been identified. The second woman Luster allegedly raped, identified as Tonja Doe, came forward after reading about the allegations in the newspapers. The third apparent victim, identified as Shawna Doe, recognized her own tattoo in photographs sheriff's deputies circulated seeking victims.
Judge: Luster can't show jury porno tapes By Grace Lee Staff Writer-Pasadena Star News VENTURA -- Lawyers for Max Factor heir Andrew Luster, charged with raping three women after drugging them with a so-called date-rape drug, will not be able to show the jury videotapes of Luster having consensual sex with one of the victims, a judge ruled Friday. Defense Attorney Roger Jon Diamond had sought to have the videotape introduced as evidence in Luster's trial, scheduled to start next week, to show that the defendant was a pornography producer who taped sexual encounters with consenting women. Luster, 38, a businessman who lives in the beachside community of Mussel Shoals, is charged with 87 counts of drugging and raping three women. Luster videotaped the encounters after allegedly giving the women the date-rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate (GHB). If convicted, he faces life in prison. Luster, the great-grandson of makeup mogul Max Factor, was arrested in July 2000 after a Santa Barbara woman made accusations against him. Luster was freed from jail after posting $1 million bail and is allowed to leave his house between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily.
Deputy questioned in Luster trial By Rachel Uranga Staff Writer Pasadena Star News VENTURA -- Defense attorneys for Max Factor heir Andrew Luster on Wednesday pressed a detective on possible inconsistencies in police reports and evidence mishandling during a second day of testimony in the date-rape drugging trial. Luster's attorney, Roger Jon Diamond, hammered Scott Peterson, a Ventura County sheriff's senior deputy, on how 17 videotapes were seized during a raid of Luster's Mussel Shoals home and later logged and stored. "Is there any way to know for certain ... that they are the tapes," Diamond asked, comparing the tapes in evidence to those seized in the July 2000 raid. "All you can do is take my word," said Peterson who oversaw several officers during a series of raids at Luster's residence. During an hourlong cross-examination, Diamond suggested the tapes -- which show Luster in sexual encounters -- had been tampered with and mishandled. Luster, 38, is accused of drugging, raping and videotaping three women. There are 87 charges leveled against him in the case and he faces life in prison if convicted. He has contended he was producing pornographic videotapes and that the sex acts shown in them were consensual.
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 17, 2003 22:53:24 GMT -5
Article Published: Thursday, December 19, 2002 - 9:22:03 PM PST
Luster 'sick, evil,' witness testifies
By Rachel Uranga Staff Writer Pasadena Star News A former girlfriend of Max Factor heir Andrew Luster, accused of drugging three women and videotaping their rapes, wept on the witness stand Thursday as she described seeing herself in one of the tapes. The 30-minute videotape -- played publicly for jurors -- showed a seemingly unconscious woman held limp in various sexual positions by Luster, accused of using the date-rape drug GHB in the assaults. "I detest him. I hate him. I can't believe he'd ever do this to me," she testified in a Ventura courtroom. "He's sick. He's evil." A woman known only as Tonja Doe is one of three women Luster is accused of drugging, then raping. Videotapes seized from Luster's home show him with two of the women. Luster is charged with 87 counts, including poisoning and sexual battery, and faces life in prison if he is convicted. Luster has pleaded not guilty to the charges, saying the sex was consensual and all part of his work as an aspiring pornography director. In nearly two hours of testimony, Tonja recalled the night she and her sister met "the charming and well-spoken" Luster and his friend at a bar in a trendy part of downtown Santa Barbara while she was visiting from Arizona. After a night of bar-hopping, the four returned to Luster's seaside home in Mussel Shoals, where, she testified, Luster offered her "an herbal supplement" to drink. In small doses, gamma hydroxybutyrate, the pharmaceutical name for GHB, induces a state of euphoria, but in larger doses it can knock people unconscious, prosecution experts have testified. A half-hour after drinking a shot glass half-full of the clear, odorless and salty liquid, Tonja blacked out, she said. Awaking the next morning, clothes disheveled, she felt "confused." "I didn't think anything happened to me," she said wiping tears from her eyes with a tissue. There were no bruises, no pain. "I really wanted to believe it. I really liked him," she said. So much so, they spent the next few days together. Luster impressed Tonja by taking her flying in a plane he piloted and by the time of her departure, he asked her to move in with him. She did but broke up with him five months later. "He just began to give me the creeps," Tonja said. In July 2000 authorities contacted Tonja after four raids on Luster's residence produced several sexually explicit videotapes. An edited version of the tape, which was played for the first time publicly on Thursday, shows Luster apparently smoking marijuana over Tonja's body while music from a grunge rock band blares in the background. Throughout the video the body never moves and the woman never says a word.
Article Published: Monday, January 13, 2003 - 6:27:27 PM PST Luster attorney low-key
By Grace Lee Staff Writer Pasadena Star News VENTURA -- The defense attorney for Max Factor heir Andrew Luster delivered a muted opening argument Monday for a client whose face could only be located on the FBI Web site. Luster is wanted by the FBI for disappearing in the midst of the trial in which he is accused of drugging and raping three women. In an opening shorter and less impassioned than many of his pretrial arguments, Roger Diamond told the jury that Luster's accusers included a woman who had sex with him willingly and an embittered ex-girlfriend. "The evidence will show that Tonja (Doe) and Andrew had an intense, heavy, intimate sexual relationship with each other that continued through their entire time together," he said. Their eventual breakup was so bitter, he contended, that Luster sued and won a judgment against his ex-girlfriend in small-claims court for the money he lent her to get a root canal. Luster, 39, apparently fled his Mussel Shoals beach home this month while facing 87 counts that included rape, poisoning and sexual battery. He had been free on $1 million bail, which was reduced from $10 million by an appellate court on the condition that he wear an electronic monitoring device on his ankle. Prosecutors were allowed to acknowledge to the jury Luster's absence from his own trial Monday, though they did not call him a fugitive. Meanwhile, local and federal authorities continued their search for Luster, whose face is a lead picture on the FBI Web site. Local and federal authorities were continuing their manhunt for Luster, communicating with law enforcement contacts throughout the world "with a broad brush" to narrow their search, said Bob Mack, FBI special agent for Ventura. "The information is out to everyone because what we think (about Luster's whereabouts) may not be precise. We don't want to miss anything," he said. In addition to taking his dog and his Chumash artifacts, the great- grandson of makeup legend Max Factor fled with his summer clothes. Mack said that while Luster has not been added to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List, he did not rule out the possibility because of the public interest in the case. Luster case may go to the jury today
Article Published: Thursday, January 16, 2003 - 8:12:35 PM PST By Rachel Uranga Staff Writer Pasadena Star News Jury deliberations were expected to begin at midday today in the trial of Max Factor heir Andrew Luster, accused of drugging and raping three women. Luster, who disappeared during his Ventura County Superior Court trial, still faces 87 criminal counts in which prosecutors claim he used the date rape drug GHB to sexually assault and videotape women. Defense attorneys contend that Luster, 39, had consensual sex with the women and that the videotaping was part of his role as a pornography producer. In closing arguments, defense attorney Roger Diamond argued that Luster's three victims, including an embittered ex-girlfriend, engaged in a lifestyle of sex, alcohol and GHB use. The women, Diamond argued, lied about their encounters and playacted unconsciousness as part of fetish porn productions. "In the world of pornography, there are some very bizarre things," he said. But senior prosecutor Maeve Fox called Luster "a disgusting pig" with no regard for the law. "Guilty people run," she told the jurors. Luster is being sought by the FBI. Ventura County Sheriff's Department officials say tips continue to trickle in for the fugitive, who, if convicted, faces life in prison. Luster apparently fled his Mussel Shoals home earlier this month. He had been free on $1 million bail, which was reduced from $10 million after he agreed to wear an electronic tracking device. Late last week, authorities discovered Luster's German shepherd, which had turned up missing along with his collection of Chumash Indian artifacts after he fled, at his mother's ranch in Sonoma County.
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 17, 2003 22:57:32 GMT -5
Andrew Luster: Caught
June 18, 2003
(CBS) After five months on the run, Andrew Luster is now in custody. The millionaire fugitive from southern California was captured in the Mexican resort town of Puerto Vallarta.
Correspondent Troy Roberts reports on a dangerous charmer who's been riding a wave of good fortune his whole life. But now, the tide has turned.
Anyone who knows Andrew Luster could usually find him around the Santa Barbara club scene, or catching the perfect point break on the Pacific coast.
But in January, one of the descendants of a famous Hollywood family vanished, becoming the focus of an international manhunt.
His timing could not have been more dramatic: Luster left a little more than two weeks into his trial. Three women had accused him of 87 counts, ranging from poisoning, to sexual battery, to rape.
The story began in the small seaside community of Mussel Shoals, Calif. Luster invited many women to his beach house, women who never suspected what would occur inside.
Authorities say Luster charmed his victims, drugged them, and then sexually assaulted them. But the women would never have learned what happened to them, if Luster hadn’t done something else that would eventually come back to haunt him. He recorded the scenes in his bedroom - complete with music — and literally caught himself on tape.
What does Luster, 39, have to say for himself? 48 Hours Investigates has the only interview conducted before he went on the lam.
Last fall, while he was free on $1 million bail, he talked exclusively to Correspondent Troy Roberts.
Luster denied the charges, and said he never sexually assaulted any woman, or sexually assaulted any woman while she was unconscious. He says the tapes show only consensual sex.
Until his criminal case, Luster had been living a seemingly carefree life. He is the great-grandson of cosmetics magnate Max Factor. In the early 1900’s, Factor emigrated to America and headed for California, just when the movie business was getting hot. His revolutionary makeup formula made the most famous faces look glamorous on film. Factor marketed his makeup and became a true American success story: The company eventually sold for more than $480 million.
Over the years, the Factors shared their fortune with their family: One of them was a granddaughter named Elizabeth. She and her son Andrew would eventually lead a life of privilege on Malibu Beach.
As a child, his mother says, Andrew was affectionate and friendly. But his childhood was less than perfect: when he was nine, his father, a respected Los Angeles psychiatrist, died of emphysema.
Luster went to college, but dropped out before earning a degree. Instead, he bought a beach house in an exclusive community near Santa Barbara and graduated to a life of leisure. He never had to work for a living, but pursued his interests: surfing, fishing and women.
“I love women. And a number of women have shown their affection for me, and it’s been fine up to July of 2000,” he told Roberts.
According to prosecutors Maeve Fox and Anthony Wold, one summer night, three years ago, Luster worked his charms on the wrong woman.
At a local bar called O’Malley’s, Luster met a 21-year-old college student named Carrie. That evening, she was with another young student named David.
When the bars closed, Andrew, one of his friends, Carrie, and David ended up driving back to Luster’s beach house. On the way, Carrie had sex with David in the back seat.
“I did hear a warning voice in the back of my head that said, you know these are people you just met. They’re having sex in the back seat of your car. This is a little strange,” says Luster.
But the party continued. At the house, Luster mixed thingytails for the group. That night, Luster says he and Carrie had consensual sex in the shower and in the bedroom. The next morning, they had sex again. “She liked it. And she was very enthusiastic about it,” says Luster. He drove her back to campus, and they exchanged phone numbers.
But a few days later, when Carrie called Andrew, it wasn’t just to arrange another date. Carrie believed she had been raped, and had reported the incident to police. The police were coaching her on what to say during her phone call to Andrew - and they recorded it.
“Dude, what did you put in my drink?” Carrie asked Luster during the call. “Liquid X,” Luster told her. Liquid X is a street name for GHB. GHB is a recreational drug, a powerful sedative that can induce euphoria, but in large doses can put the user into a coma-like state.
“GHB is Mr. Luster’s weapon of choice. And he used it to great success,” says Fox.
By the end of the phone call, Carrie arranged to meet up with Andrew after class the next day.
Carrie said: “You don’t have to drug me to have sex with me this time. Okay?” “I promise I won’t,” Luster said.
Carrie didn’t show up at Luster’s house the following day. Instead detectives from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office did. Luster was arrested and charged with rape.
He eventually admitted to the police that he had given her GHB once that night. But that was the least of his problems. When police searched Andrew’s house, they found videotapes that suggested that Luster may have had other victims.
One of them is Shawna, who met Andrew on the beach when she was a sophomore in high school. She only saw him occasionally. One evening, when she was 17, Andrew invited her for drinks.
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 17, 2003 23:01:06 GMT -5
CONT. She says the last thing she remembers was feeling sick, and needing to lay down. While she was passed out, Luster had sex with her, and recorded what he had done on tape. But Shawna wasn’t the only one. Tonja, one of Luster’s former girlfriends, is also a victim. In October 1996, Tonja, then 23, was visiting her sister in Santa Barbara. They met Luster at a bar there. She thought he was charming. She accepted an invitation to go for more drinks at Andrew’s house. At the house, they had c-ocktails and conversation in Luster’s Jacuzzi. Later that evening, Tonja was offered a drink of something she had never heard of before: GHB. She remembers becoming talkative, and then she passed out. The next morning, Tonja woke up, fully clothed in Andrew’s bed. He told her he had carried her into the bed, but had slept elsewhere. Tonja dismissed her suspicions because she was taken with Luster. She had been living in Arizona at the time, but within a few weeks of meeting, she moved in with him. After four months, the relationship went sour. “One of the scarier things that I can share with you is that he had, in one of the back room, back room areas of his house a collage on his wall of various pix of various women, scantily dressed in either panties and a bra or bikini," says Tonja. "I said I wasn’t comfortable with it. And shortly before I decided to move out, I walked past that wall and my picture was added to the collage. And I tell you, it gave me the creeps. I ripped it off the wall immediately of course. And I ripped off a couple of other pictures too while I was at it. And he told me, if I ever did that again he’d kill me.” British Article news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/862089.stmSex, videotapes and a cosmetics heir By Jodie A. Kirshner Court TV Monday, October 28, 2002 Posted: 6:50 PM EST (2350 GMT) (Court TV) -- A 38-year-old Ventura County cosmetics heir faces trial Monday on charges that he sexually assaulted three women after drugging them. Andrew Luster, a great-grandson of Hollywood makeup magnate Max Factor, has been charged with 87 criminal counts, including rape, poisoning and sexual assault. Ventura County police found homemade videos of sexual encounters with unconscious women, vials of clear liquid, cocaine and 13 illegal firearms inside Luster's house, Ventura County Sheriff's Department spokesman Eric Nishimoto said. Luster was arrested on July 18, 2000, and is being held under house arrest with an electronic monitoring device. He lives in an $800,000 oceanfront home he bought with money from a trust fund in Mussel Shoals, the exclusive unincorporated area of Northern Ventura County roughly 60 miles from Los Angeles. His bail was originally set at $10 million because he was seen as a flight risk with international connections but was later reduced to $1 million, court documents stated. Few facts have been officially released about the case. A gag order has silenced all participants in the trial, and the judge has sealed many court documents. The three female victims have not been publicly identified and will appear in court as Carey, Tonja and Shauna Doe. In June 2000, Carey Doe, a 21-year-old senior at University of California-Santa Barbara, approached Ventura County police and told them Luster had given her a drink mixed with gamma hydroxybutyrate and sexually assaulted her. Gamma hydroxybutyrate or GHB, a colorless, odorless liquid that lowers inhibitions and can cause blackouts, is a known as the "date-rape drug," according to the California Department of Public Health. Luster has discounted her story and claims the sex was consensual. His attorney, James Blatt, painted the victim as a vengeful, thwarted woman in a preliminary hearing held June 13, 2001. Blatt referred in court to her convenient "lack of memory and absence of resistance." Deputy District Attorney John Blair testified at the same hearing that the evidence supports Carey Doe's allegations. "We have the videos," Blair said. "We can actually see these crimes taking place." The tapes seized from Luster's home depict 10 to 15 victims, Nishimoto said. Law enforcement officials have identified two of the women, and both have since come forward. A video inscribed "Shauna GHB-ing" led investiidiots to witness Shauna Doe. The half-hour tape portrays a silent, unconscious-looking woman stretched out on a bed, according to court records. Luster's voice narrates, "This is what I dream about a beautiful, strawberry-blond, passed out on my bed, waiting for me to do with her what I will." Shauna Doe saw the tape for the first time in court, during the June hearing, she testified. "I'm angry," she said after viewing it. "I'm disgusted. I can't believe someone would do that." She never consented to having sex on video or had any knowledge of the video's existence, she testified. She has no memory of ever having sex with Luster and was barely 18 when she met him. Police traced the third witness, Tonja Doe, to Arizona. Her snoring is audible on the videotape of her encounter with Luster. Tonja Doe, 23 years old when the tape was made, does not recall the sexual encounter depicted in it, she testified. But she voluntarily took Gamma hydroxybutyrate with Luster twice during the three subsequent months in which she lived with him and engaged in consensual sex. "I just can't believe he did this," she said through tears in court. Luster has challenged the validity of the videos. "If these were rapes, do you think I'd be crazy enough to leave the evidence lying around the house," Luster said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph. "Everything you can see on those tapes is consensual. The case is a set-up." Luster has never married and lives off investments, said a family spokesperson who asked that her name be withheld. With the exception of selling fish-shaped pillows from a stand in Mexico with a girlfriend, he has never worked. Luster attended the elite Windward School in Santa Monica and graduated with a B average. His father, a physician, died when Luster was nine. His mother, Max Factor's granddaughter, has owned a Napa Valley health and fitness retreat. She recently purchased a house for the mother of Luster's two illegitimate children, aged 11 and seven, according to the Ventura County Star. Max Factor launched a cosmetics line in the mid-1920's, just as the movie industry was emerging. He invented many makeup products for actresses including "flexible greasepaint", a natural-looking foundation, false eyelashes, lip-gloss and eyebrow pencils. Later he broadened his scope, pitching his merchandise to the masses with the advertising jingle, "every girl can look like a movie star by using Max Factor make-up." In 1973, his son Max Jr. sold the business to Proctor and Gamble for $480 million, the equivalent of more than $2 billion today. If the jury convicts Luster on all 87 counts, he will face up to 150 years in prison. And police expect their investigation to lead them to other witness. "We've got three, and we're looking at the others," Nishimoto said. "There are potentially between 10 and 15 victims just from the tape."
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 17, 2003 23:04:25 GMT -5
Los Angeles Times
Cosmetics Heir Faces Court Hearing Crime: Andrew Struart Luster denies 88 counts related to alleged sexual assaults on unconscious women caught on video.
B y Tina Dirmann Times Staff Writer
After months of delay, the greatgrandson of cosmetics king Max Factor is scheduled to appear in court today to hear evidence prosecutors say proves he is a rapist who used a date rape drug to render his victims unconscious before videotaping his attacks.
Andrew Stuart Luster, 37, is charged with 88 counts of rape, sodomy, oral copulation, poisoning and sexual battery; 38 of those counts were recently added. These counts include five charges of possession of a deadly weapon, because a cache of guns was confiscated from Luster's seaside home in Mussel Shoals.
Luster has vigorously denied all charges, saying that every sexualact captured on videotape was photographed with the consent of his partners, a fact Luster's attorneys say will become abundantly clear after Tuesday's hearing.
"The public will have a very different perspective of this case;" said attorney James Blatt. "Mr. Luster is a law-abiding citizen, not a predator, and what this case really involves is the very fundamental right to privacy in the bedroom and intimacy with one's partner."
Luster; whose net worth has been estimated as high as $30 million by prosecutors, was arrested last July after a 21-year-old Santa Barbara woman told authorities she suspected that Luster sedated her with the date rape drug GHB and sexually assaulted her.
The woman, whose identity has not been released, said that she and a male friend met Luster in a bar in Santa Barbara and that he offered both a glass of water. Shortly afterward, both reported feeling extremely intoxicated and ended up at Luster's home, where the woman says she was raped.
During a search of Luster's home, authorities uncovered dozens of videotapes that they say show him engaged in sexual acts with women who appeared unconscious. Police identified two of the women on tape, both of whom told investiidiots that they had no idea the videos had been made.
Luster has said all the women knew what they were doing and that the last two women were longterm girlfriends who regularly took GHB, which in smaller quantities can produce a high similar, to alcohol. It also is considered an aphrodisiac, Luster's attorneys said.
"These were two girlfriends who had long-term sexual relationships with him and as part of that they took GHB on a continual basis," Blatt said.
Defense attorneys have argued that the women are only now cooperating with authorities because they are scorned lovers out for revenge. And the first victim, they reason, is a young woman ashamed of her "party girl" behavior.
Today's hearing will not be the first time Blatt has gone up against prosecutors alleging GHB was used to commit multiple acts of rape.
In 1999, Blatt helped a Santa Monica investment banker and his girlfriend beat charges that they drugged and raped two women at their Bel-Air mansion. Prosecutors dropped charges that could have brought the pair 120 years in prison after the victims, under intense cross-examination from Blatt, admitted they drank alcohol and used cocaine before the incidents.
Blatt is hoping for a similar outcome today, when all three alleged victims are scheduled to take the stand. A judge also will review the tapes confiscated from Luster's home, one of which, according to court documents, shows Luster saying into the camera, "I dream about this, a strawberry blond passed out on my bed, waiting for me to do with her what I will."
At the end of the hearing, expected to take about four days, a judge will decide whether there is enough evidence against Luster to merit a trial.
In December, Luster won a court battle to reduce his record $10-million bail to $1 million, which he posted after agreeing to remain on house arrest. He is confined to his home and must wear an electronic monitor and submit to drug tests and random searches.
Blatt said he hopes the case doesn't make it to a jury. But if it does, he believes jurors will be sympathetic to Luster.
"Even in this conservative community of Ventura County," Blatt said, "I think people understand there are alternative lifestyles. And what this case involves is the privacy of a relationship. And I think any community concerned with privacy would be concerned about this case.”
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Daily News, Tuesday, June 12, 2001, Reprinted with permission
Trial ordered in rape case B y Cecilia Chan Staff Writer
An heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune was ordered Monday to stand trial on charges of drugging, raping and videotaping three women in Ventura County's first criminal case involving the use of the date rape drug, GHB.
Andrew S. Luster, 37, who is under house arrest, faces arraignment June 25 on 87 counts that could bring him life in prison if he is convicted.
He declined comment as he left the fourth-floor courtroom, and his attorney, Joel Isaacson, said he plans to ask that Luster's high-profile trial be held outside Ventura County.
Senior Deputy District Attorney John Blair called the ruling "appropriate, based on the substantial evidence that came out showing a pattern of sexual assault committed by the defendant."
In court, defense attorney James Blatt argued for the charges to be dismissed based on a lack of' evidence. The defense claimed during Luster's three-day preliminary hearing that the three women consented to having sex with the defendant and to be videotaped doing so.
Blatt also attacked the credibility of witnesses Carey, "Doe" and David "Doe," both students at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who testified Friday that Luster drugged them with gamma hydroxy butyrate after they met him in a bar last year.
Blatt questioned how Carey was able to recall being sexually assaulted by Luster three times and yet had no recollection of having sex in the back seat of Luster's car with David Doe a casual acquaintance, or of having a photo taken after the first alleged assault that showed her smiling.
Blatt also argued that Carey and David were not drugged but willingly drank alcohol and were intoxicated and that Carey never verbally or physically resisted Luster.
Blair countered that testimony from the prosecution’s witness, a noted doctor showed that GHB causes memory loss and that the effects the illicit drug would include “happiness and euphoria.”
Judge James Cloninger, however, said he found both witnesses to be credible, especially in light of what occurred with two other purported victims, Tayna “Doe” and Shauna “Doe,” whe were both shown videotaped being sexually assaulted by Luster while unconscious.
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 17, 2003 23:07:47 GMT -5
Heir To Max Factor Fortune Facing Multiple Charges -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Los Angeles - An heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune being tried on multiple rape charges faced an uphill battle on Tuesday to explain his behaviour after jurors watched video footage of him having sex with two women while they lay naked and apparently unconscious at his Californian beach house.
Andrew Luster, 39, is charged with 87 charges of rape, sodomy, sexual battery, drug possession and poisoning. He faces life imprisonment without parole if convicted on even a few of them.
The prosecution says he sweet-talked at least three women into going with him to his house near Santa Barbara, administered the illegal sedative GHB and then had sex with them.
The clue that led directly to his arrest was that he videotaped the sex sessions. In one tape, Maeve Fox said in her opening statement for the prosecution, Luster can be heard saying his dream was "a strawberry blonde passed out on my bed ... ready for anything".
GHB, known as liquid ecstasy, leaves victims with little or no recollection of what occurs. Fox said Luster gave GHB to his female guests "so he could ... violate them over and over again".
Luster's lawyers were expected to argue that the sex was consensual, that the girls were pretending to be asleep and that the tapes were part of Luster's plans to become a pornographic film producer.
In the pre-trial hearing, the defence was denied permission to show a tape in which one of the alleged victims has what appears to be consensual sex with him. And the court would not accept "prior consent" – in other words, the defence cannot argue the alleged victims knew what would happen before they lost consciousness.
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 17, 2003 23:11:20 GMT -5
Jurors learn about Luster's absence
Ventura County Star
Jurors in the Andrew Luster date-rape trial heard for the first time Monday about his disappearance 10 days ago, when he apparently fled the trial and escaped house arrest.
A supervising probation officer and one of the lead detectives on the case testified that Luster turned up missing Friday, Jan. 3, and has been gone ever since.
Law enforcement officials discussed the issue publicly last week, but Monday was the first time the jury heard what happened to the missing defendant.
The prosecution did not use the words "flee" or "fugitive" in its questions, but did deal with the facts of his detainment: that he was freed on $1 million bail; was allowed to leave his home from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. to help his attorneys prepare a defense; and that he, his car, dog, warm-weather clothing and Chumash artifacts disappeared Jan. 3.
After presenting that evidence, the prosecution rested its case, and Luster's attorney, Roger Diamond, gave his opening statement. He had decided earlier to wait until the prosecution rested to present his opening remarks.
After arguing for weeks that Luster was a fledgling porn producer who was making movies when he allegedly raped two unconscious women and videotaped it, Diamond made no mention of that explanation during his 30-minute opening.
He told the jury the sex between Luster and the three alleged victims was consensual, and the two women who were filmed knew they were being filmed.
He added that one of the women, known in court as Tonja Doe, "has harbored a tremendous hatred for Andrew all these years" because their relationship failed and Luster won a small-claims suit against her.
Of another alleged victim, Shauna Doe, Diamond said "she pretended to be unconscious" in the video, where she appears comatose and can be heard snoring loudly as Luster has sex with her.
The 39-year-old great-grandson of cosmetics pioneer Max Factor has pleaded not guilty to 87 criminal counts. If convicted, he faces 150 years in prison, if the authorities ever find him.
The defense case began Monday with three witnesses. One, Ivy Young, is a former friend of Shauna Doe.
She testified they used to go to Luster's Mussel Shoals home as teenagers in 1996 and 1997 to party. In July 1997, Shauna told her she had had sex with Luster, Young said.
That contradicts Shauna's earlier testimony, during which she denied ever having consensual sex with the defendant.
Brian Tiffany, a senior Ventura County sheriff's deputy, interviewed Tonja in July 2000, a few days after police arrested Luster. She told him she was aware Luster had videotaped one of their sexual encounters.
Tonja earlier testified she never knew Luster had recorded their sex and never gave him consent to do so.
The defense is expected to rest its case today, and the two sides likely will give their closing arguments Wednesday or Thursday.
Jurors Told Defendant in Rape Case Fled
LA Times
Jurors in the trial of fugitive rape suspect Andrew Luster heard evidence for the first time Monday that the 39-year-old cosmetics heir jumped bail and fled during a two-week break in the Ventura County proceedings.
Before resting their case, prosecutors called a detective who searched Luster's beach house in Mussel Shoals a day after the defendant failed to check in with the probation agency as required by the terms of his $1-million bail release.
Investiidiots found Luster's clothing drawers empty and his toiletries, car, dog and a collection of Native American artifacts missing during the Jan. 4 search of his property, sheriff's Det. Scott Peterson testified.
"Nobody was inside the house," he told the jury. "We noticed all his warm weather clothes were gone."
For the last week, the panel of five men and seven women has been told nothing about the conspicuous absence of Luster, a real estate investor and great-grandson to cosmetics tycoon Max Factor, who failed to return to court last week after a holiday recess in his trial.
Luster faces 87 criminal counts for allegedly drugging and raping three women at his beachfront home. He faces a possible life prison sentence if convicted.
Santa Monica defense attorney Roger Jon Diamond, who was ordered by the judge to continue with the case despite his client's absence, gave an opening statement Monday and then called three of four defense witnesses.
Diamond told jurors in his opening remarks that evidence will show Luster engaged in consensual sex with the purported victims. Diamond described one of the women as a scorned ex-lover out for revenge, and portrayed the others as party girls who lied about the sexual encounters because they were embarrassed by their actions.
Addressing multiple charges of poisoning and sex by use of drugs, Diamond told jurors the three women voluntarily took the drug GHB, or gamma hydroxybutyrate, while partying with his client.
"The sex was hot and heavy, and it included GHB," Diamond said, referring to one of the women, identified as Tonja Doe, who lived with Luster and had a sexual relationship with him in late 1996 and early 1997.
During their case, prosecutors played two 30-minute videotapes that show Luster engaging in sex acts with snoring and seemingly unconscious women. Law enforcement officials say the tapes, recorded in 1996 and 1997, are powerful pieces of evidence that show Luster raping two comatose victims.
But Diamond told jurors in his brief opening statement that the women knew they were being videotaped, and were "pretending to be asleep."
As for the third alleged victim -- a 23-year-old former UC Santa Barbara student identified as Carey Doe -- Diamond said the sex was consensual.
The lawyer held up an enlarged photo, taken on the night of the alleged rape, in which the student is seen smiling while sitting between two men at Luster's house. Diamond told jurors the photo casts doubt on her credibility.
Diamond also said the evidence will show Carey Doe did not want Luster prosecuted, and indicated as much on a report filed with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department.
But a detective with that agency then testified that a box on the report checked "No" to indicate there was no request to prosecute was completed in that manner because the alleged crime did not occur in Santa Barbara County.
Det. Mark Ward went on to testify that he did not recall Carey Doe ever saying she didn't want to report a crime. He said the case was referred to Ventura County authorities because that is where the alleged sex assault occurred.
Diamond called two other witnesses Monday to rebut statements given by alleged rape victims Tonja and Shawna Doe, who denied engaging in sex with Luster before a video camera. Shawna Doe told jurors she never had sex with the defendant.
But a friend of the woman testified Monday that Shawna Doe confided that she did have sexual relations with Luster in July 1997 -- six months before the videotaped sexual encounter.
Diamond is expected to call his final witness this morning, "unless someone else appears," he said in reference to his client. Closing arguments in the case could begin as soon as Wednesday
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 17, 2003 23:15:58 GMT -5
Max Factor Heir's Rape Trial Proceeds
Accused Of Drugging, Raping And Videotaping Women
Dec 3, 2002 6:25 pm US/Eastern VENTURA (AP) A judge refused to delay the date-rape trial of millionaire cosmetics heir Andrew Luster on Tuesday, telling his attorneys they have had sufficient time to prepare their case.
Ventura County Superior Court Judge Ken Riley said he planned to begin jury selection on Tuesday.
Defense attorney Kiana Sloan-Hillier responded that she would take her request for more time to the California Supreme Court.
"We are being forced to go ahead with our hands tied behind our back," she said. "It is really not fair to the defense."
The great-grandson of cosmetics magnate Max Factor is accused of rendering three women unconscious with the date-rape drug gamma hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, then raping them.
Luster's lawyers accuse prosecutors of concealing evidence while pressing for a speedy trial. They also accuse the Ventura County Sheriff's Department of doctoring videotapes and coaching witnesses to lie.
Authorities deny any wrongdoing.
Luster, 38, was arrested in July 2000 after a woman told authorities she was drugged at a Santa Barbara bar, then raped at his Ventura County beach house. Detectives who searched the home said they found videotapes of Luster engaging in sex acts with two other women who appeared to be unconscious.
Defense attorneys asked Riley two weeks ago to delay the trial two months. When he refused they took their case to the 2nd District Court of Appeal, which turned them down last week. Riley turned them down again on Monday.
Sloan-Hillier said prosecutors have refused to turn over tapes, photographs and other evidence, including a recently obtained copy of a police interview with another woman who suspects she was drugged by Luster.
Deputy District Attorney Anthony Wold accused Luster's attorneys of stalling.
"Two-and-a-half years this case has been in the system," Wold said
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 17, 2003 23:19:43 GMT -5
‘He Was Toasted’ Witness Contradicts Account of Alleged Cosmetics Heir Date Rape Victim The Associated Press V E N T U R A, Calif., Jan. 15 — Testimony has concluded in the date rape trial of cosmetics heir Andrew Luster, who disappeared midway through his trial. White was the fourth and final defense witness in testimony that concluded Tuesday. Luster was not present at his trial after allegedly jumping his $1 million bail on Jan. 3. He is charged with 87 criminal counts and faces a possible life prison sentence if convicted. White testified that the woman's arms were around Luster and she appeared to be holding him up, while the defendant staggered, slurred his words and appeared drunk. "He was toasted," said Richard White, a former bartender. Conflicting Testimony The testimony contradicts testimony given last week by the woman, identified as Carey Doe, and her male companion, David Doe. They told jurors they felt intoxicated and believe that Luster, the 39-year-old great-grandson of cosmetics magnate Max Factor, spiked their drinks with a drug after they met at a Santa Barbara bar on July 14, 2000. Prosecutors allege that Luster used GHB to render three women unconscious for sex. Defense attorneys, however, maintain those women agreed to take the drug, engaged in consensual sex and are now lying.
So this makes 1 witness questioning Shawna's account and 1 Carrie. Who were the other 2 and what was their testimony? This link has him convicted of Murder! www.whdh.com/news/articles/national/A7832/
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 17, 2003 23:31:16 GMT -5
www.staronline.com/vcs/county_news/article/0,1375,VCS_226_2187208,00.html Judge awards Luster victim $19 million Bysshe says he wants to send strong message about date rape drug By Tamara Koehler August 16, 2003 A civil judge awarded $19 million in damages to one of Andrew Luster's rape victims, saying he wanted to "send a clear and uncompromising message" to those who commit sexual assault using a date rape drug. In a three-page ruling issued Friday, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Frederick Bysshe described Luster as "a man totally lacking a moral compass, a man, in fact, whose pleasure appears to be enhanced by the very helplessness of his victim. "By its award of punitive damages, the court intends to send a clear and uncompromising message to defendant Luster, as well as to any other person who contemplates the similar use of that type of heinous drug that, in addition to criminal punishment, there will be severe financial consequences imposed," the judge wrote. Bysshe granted the 23-year-old woman, identified as Shawna Doe, $10 million in punitive damages and $9 million in compensatory damages. In addition, the judge awarded attorneys fees, which usually run about 40 percent of the total monetary award. Shawna Doe was a minor in 1998 when Luster took her to his Mussel Shoals beach home and drugged her with a date rape drug that knocked her out. He then videotaped himself as he raped, sodomized, and orally copulated the unconscious woman. Luster can be heard on the tape talking about the assault and his sexual fantasies. The judge awarded "significant" damages in part because of the media attention the case attracted. Parts of the videotape were played on national television, adding to her emotional and psychological pain, Bysshe found.
The judge also found that the embarrassment of having to testify and watch the videotape of her assault in court played a role in the victim's suffering.
"The defendant's sexual assaults and his video taping of these assaults set in motion a contemporary Greek Tragedy where law enforcement and the media, each playing their respective roles, caused the plaintiff to suffer repeated and overwhelming episodes of humiliation," Bysshe wrote. A jury convicted Luster in January of 86 felony counts of drugging and raping three women, including Shawna Doe. Luster, the great-grandson of cosmetics magnate Max Factor, fled house arrest shortly before the jury verdict and was apprehended in June in Mexico. The 39-year-old millionaire is now serving 124 years in state prison. Luster's other two victims have also filed civil suits. An attorney representing Luster did not appear at Shawna Doe's civil trial on July 28, nor has Luster responded to civil filings and requests for information about his assets filed by the other two victims. Barry Novack, a Beverly Hills attorney representing Shawna Doe, filed papers asserting Luster's net worth is more than $20 million. Novack was out of the country Friday, and could not be reached for comment. Attorneys for the three victims want Luster's $1 million bail frozen until civil judgements such as Friday's are finalized. In a 2002 appellate court ruling that lowered Luster's bail from $10 million to $1 million, justices found that estimates of his worth had been exaggerated. The appellate court ruling states that law enforcement and district attorney investiidiots had "misread" a 1999 Chase Manhattan Bank annual report of Luster's trust fund. Instead of $31 million, the account had a negative balance of $204,875, the justices found.
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 17, 2003 23:35:05 GMT -5
Luster's rambling diary hints at why he threw life away Rapist kept everything -- including grudges against his enemies By Aron Miller, amiller@insidevc.com July 20, 2003 Andrew Luster wrote down everything. Grocery lists in diaries. Pickup lines on the backs of receipts. Physical descriptions of women on scratch paper. The great-grandson of cosmetics inventor Max Factor filled his beachfront digs in Mussel Shoals with all kinds of junk -- long before he became known for drugging and raping three women. "Number one, the guy's a pack rat," said Ventura County Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox, who successfully prosecuted Luster earlier this year. "The whole house was filled with belongings that appeared, some of them, decades old. He's very obsessive." While a fugitive in Mexico, Luster continued to jot thoughts and reminders on white, lined paper in a blue, spiral notebook. Careful to keep his words firmly on the lines, he compiled a diary that offers a 13-page window into his disjointed, vengeful mindset, and his ultimately failed life. The notebook, uncovered last month by the Ventura County Star at Luster's Puerto Vallarta motel, features a list of 37 people under the heading "PAYBACK." That page alone provides a glimpse into his world, where good friends turned their backs on him, and he considered all of them enemies. "It's really a sad thing because this is a guy who had everything," said Mike, a Ventura man on Luster's list who did not want his last name used. "To throw it away like that is unbelievable." Why Luster did what he did remains unclear. A good-looking, athletic man with lots of money slipped date-rape drugs in women's drinks, got them in his bed and had sex with them while they were unconscious. Friends said he could have had any woman he wanted; he didn't need to drug them. What is clear is that, unless his pending appeal with the state Supreme Court is successful, Luster, 39, will never get out of prison. He is serving a 124-year sentence, with little chance of parole. He was captured last month in Mexico by a bounty hunter after fleeing his Ventura County trial in January. "He's not a monster, but obviously he's got a side to him that's hidden pretty well," said Tysha Rothwell, 29, of Santa Barbara, who dated Luster for six months in 1999 and 2000, the year he was arrested. She also is on his payback list. "I feel like I got to know him pretty well, but obviously I didn't." 'I'm Andrew Luster' Andrew Stuart Luster was born Dec. 15, 1963, in the Los Angeles area and grew up in Malibu, where everyone called him Drew. His mother, Elizabeth "Liz" Luster, was adopted into the Max Factor family and benefited from the riches the cosmetics empire raked in. About age 9, his father died. The family rarely discussed the death openly, said Damon Knight, who grew up with Luster and remained his friend until just before his arrest. After his father's death, "Drew never had a male influence in his life ...," said Knight, 40, who is also on the payback list. As children, the two lived in Malibu's Big Rock neighborhood and used to fish together at Malibu Pier. Each weekend, they spent the night at each other's houses. They lost touch during the teenage years, when Luster went to Winward High School in Santa Monica and then moved to Mussel Shoals. In the early 1990s, Knight reconnected with his childhood chum and eventually moved to Ventura County. In 1991, they took a trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where Luster had bought a lavish condo near the beach, Knight said. During that trip, he realized Luster had become "weirder." "What I found was he had turned into somebody that was hard to hang out with," Knight said. "He was just freaky with the chicks and I couldn't hang. He doesn't know how to deal with women. He's always been handicapped with women." He added that the rapes were "a control thing" because of Luster's "hatred of women." Around the same time, Luster met and became involved with a woman who eventually gave birth to his two children. They never married, and for years she lived in Pacific Palisades in a home the family bought for her. Recently she moved away with the children, said a person on the payback list who did not want to be identified. Meanwhile, Luster and Knight remained friends, often surfing and fishing together. Luster never worked and had few cares in the world, Knight said. "His troubles in his day were deciding where to eat and then where to surf," he said. "Those were the troubles in his life." The friendship came to a sudden end in 1997, when after a fishing trip Luster stole two live lobsters from Knight's dock at Mandalay Bay. That was the last straw for Knight, who said, "You just don't steal from your friends." About two years later, Luster met Rothwell, who was 10 years younger. He initially lied about his age and never told her he had kids, she said. The two became close, spiritually and intimately, and she never saw an ugly side of him. But she broke up with him after about six months because she wanted to settle down, "and I didn't see him heading in that direction," she said. He also started getting "needy." After the breakup, he persistently left messages on her answering machine. In one, he said, "I'm Andrew Luster. Nobody treats me like this," Rothwell said. The next day, he smeared surf wax all over her car. Looking for support Luster was arrested in July 2000, and prosecutors eventually charged him with 87 counts of rape of an unconscious person, sexual battery, poisoning and other crimes. He bailed out of jail in December 2000 and began assembling his support team. He called Rothwell and many of his old friends, hoping to convince them of his innocence. A few of them showed up for his court appearances, including Rothwell. Then District Attorney Investigetor Leslie Robertson -- a payback list member herself -- pulled Rothwell aside. After having lunch with Robertson, Rothwell believed Luster was guilty and stopped supporting him. Is that proper, legal, ethical?!!! Mike, however, continued to run errands for Luster, who was confined to his home by an electronic monitoring bracelet. Mike brought him groceries and did other odds and ends for him, he said. The two had been surfing buddies since 1991 and had hung out less frequently since 1997. But Mike figured Luster needed the backing of his friends, so he stayed on his side. That is, until the preliminary hearing. After reading the case's details -- a woman so unconscious she snored while Luster raped her on videotape -- Mike confronted Luster, asking how the sex could have possibly been consensual, which was his defense. "It was kink," Luster responded, or kinky consensual sex, Mike said. Cont.-
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 17, 2003 23:37:52 GMT -5
A jury didn't think so and convicted Luster of 86 counts. That was two weeks after he fled his trial during a holiday break, making his way to Mexico, a place he had been many times before.
"He would go back down to Mexico, believe me, because he knows that's a party town," Knight said. "I know how much he loved Mexico."
'Surfer from Hawaii'
How and when Luster arrived south of the border is still a mystery. The notebook provides some clues, as do people who saw him as early as April.
On April 7, Luster traveled to Costa Custodio, a beachside village about 90 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta. He said his name was David and he was interested in buying property, said Min Labanauskas, a Washington-state man who owns real estate in that area.
Luster told him he had been traveling for two months and that he was going "back to Guadalajara," one of Mexico's largest cities a few hours away.
That night, he made a fatal mistake when he partied with a Bellingham, Wash., couple and had his picture taken with them. Two months later, that couple would develop their film, recognize Luster as a wanted man and eventually call Duane "Dog" Chapman, the bounty hunter who tracked him down.
On May 28, Labanauskas said, Luster left him a note, a copy of which he gave to The Star. It read:
"Hey guys. I came looking for you but you had not returned yet. I hope the trip was enjoyable and you did everything you wanted to do.
"I tried calling you a few times but couldn't get you. Bought you a little homecoming present.
"I went fishing and surfing for a few days locally and had a great time. My associate/friend in Guadalajara is itching to come view the property. Let's talk soon and set up a date.
"I'll call you in a few days or come looking for you and we'll figure it out."
"David Carrera, surfer from Hawaii."
Next to the note was a bottle of Absolut vodka. Luster also left a Guadalajara phone number. Calls to the number revealed it was a notary public's office, and people who answered the phone there said they didn't know any Andrew Luster or David Carrera.
In Mexico, notary publics are slightly different than they are in the United States. They produce documents for real estate transactions and property and money transfers and are considered one step below an attorney.
Labanauskas said it appeared Luster was trying to work out some kind of real estate deal, so he could have been using the notary's office as a place of business. But that has not been established.
Luster eventually inquired about a home on the beach for $85,000, Labanauskas said. In his notebook, he writes about a business deal and that he hasn't received his $80,000.
Around the same time, the Washington couple e-mailed Labanauskas, whom they had gotten to know during their vacation, about the man they discovered was Luster. Labanauskas got in touch with Chapman and set up a meeting to nab the fugitive.
The night Luster was captured in Puerto Vallarta, Labanauskas was with Chapman. They followed Luster to various nightclubs, then grabbed him at a taco stand.
As they drove away, Luster sat right next to Labanauskas in the back of Chapman's sport utility vehicle.
"He looked like he was totally stoned," Labanauskas said. "Something was going on with drugs. He was out of it."
Who helped?
Before his run on the lam came to a stunning conclusion, Luster indulged himself for more than five months, surfing, hanging out in topless bars, picking up hookers and traveling, various witnesses said. That begs the question: Who was helping him?
The FBI is investigating that angle and has declined to comment on its findings. The Ventura County District Attorney's Office sealed more than a dozen search warrant affidavits in connection with their investigation of who aided Luster.
The notebook might provide some leads. It names people -- Mike, Alex, M. Dean, Patrick and L.L. -- who Luster apparently thought were going to support him financially. In one passage, he wrote:
"Mike, about 31/2-4 months ago you promised that piece by piece the money was being transferred into your acct. and within say a month or so you'd have access to it all. When I talked to you a bit you told me after that that this process was underway and there would be no further hold-ups. Now you claim you don't have access to any of it."
It is unclear who "Mike" is or why Luster wrote this information in his notebook. The Mike who ran errands for Luster after he bailed out of jail said he stopped talking to Luster after confronting him about the allegations.
Knight and another source who knows Luster were sure the "L.L." he wrote about is his mother, Liz Luster, who always has shown support for her son, coming to court appearances and expressing publicly her feelings about the case. When Luster fled, his dog was found at her Northern California home.
The notebook notations about L.L. include the following:
"Begin formulating letter to friend/assoc. to L.L. to be sent to friend."
"Begin formulating letter to L.L. to be sent to friend of hers."
"Trip to L.L."
"Speech to L.L." Nobody in law enforcement has said Luster's mother is being investigated, and Rothwell, the former girlfriend, said she is skeptical that Liz Luster would stick her neck out that far for her son.
"I cannot imagine anyone helping him, other than his mom, and I really don't think she would do that," Rothwell said. "I don't think she would want to get involved."
Luster's mother could not be reached for comment.
Regardless of who, if anyone, helped him or what his financial situation was, Knight said he believed Luster's arrogance got the best of him. Labanauskas observed the same sense of immortality that night in the back seat of Chapman's SUV.
"He wasn't afraid of anything, from his attitude when he talked to us," Labanauskas said. "I don't know if it's arrogance or stupidity."
And from this entry in his journal, Luster didn't seem to feel any remorse for his actions.
"All this so a few robot-minded govt. bureaucrats could be promoted and make their units look good in the eyes of the tax paying public," he wrote. "Waveing (sic) their flag of self-glorification and pride in this cold-blooded endeavor."
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 17, 2003 23:42:52 GMT -5
3 more articles... www.dailynexus.com/news/2003/4236.htmlFugitive Evades Trial, Not Verdict By Associated Press Wednesday, January 22, 2003 • Assault Suspect Skips His Trial VENTURA, Calif. (AP) - A jury on Tuesday convicted fugitive cosmetics heir Andrew Luster on charges of raping three women, including a UCSB student in 2000. The Ventura County Superior Court jury found the millionaire great-grandson of Max Factor guilty of 86 counts, which included rape, sodomy, drug and weapons possession, and poisoning. The jury deadlocked on one count of poisoning one of the victims. On Jan. 3, during a two-week trial recess, Luster, 39, took his German shepherd and collection of Chumash Indian artifacts and fled in his sport utility vehicle, authorities said. The dog was later found at Luster's mother's home in Sonoma, and his vehicle was found Sunday in Santa Monica, but authorities said they had no clue as to Luster's whereabouts. The three-week trial continued without Luster, and in closing arguments prosecutor Tony Wold said the disappearance pointed to guilt. "Innocent people don't run," Wold said to the jury. Luster was an avid surfer and had an oceanfront home in Mussel Shoals, near Ventura. It was there, authorities said, that he took three women in 1996, 1997 and 2000 and raped them after rendering them compliant or unconscious by doping them with gamma hydroxybutyrate, also known as GHB. Luster was arrested in July 2000 after a 21-year-old UCSB student told police he had drugged and assaulted her. Prosecutors said Luster spiked a glass of water with GHB and that the woman became dizzy. At the trial, the woman testified that she and a male friend went to Luster's home, where he raped her in a shower and a bedroom while she was too groggy to resist. During a search of the home, authorities found other videotapes of Luster apparently having sex with sleeping or unconscious women. In one videotape shown to the jury, a 17-year-old girl appeared to be asleep and snoring on a bed. Luster, sitting next to her, stated, "Some people dream about Christmas, Thanksgiving. I dream about this. A strawberry blonde, beautiful girl passed out on my bed and basically there for me to do with whatever I chose." He is then seen performing various sex acts with the girl, who remains limp. Two of the women in the videotapes testified at the trial that they willingly took drinks laced with GHB from Luster but never consented to sex. The defense argued that the women were party girls and disgruntled ex-girlfriends who had consented to sex. Also, Luster was depicted as a would-be pornography producer; the defense team described the women in the videotapes as actresses pretending to be asleep. The prosecutor scoffed at the contention, noting that the defense never produced any contracts with actors or advertisements for the videotapes. www.dailynexus.com/news/2003/4076.htmlAssault Suspect Skips His Trial Andrew Stuart Luster's location unknown after failed court appearance By Jennifer B. Siverts - Staff Writer Tuesday, January 7, 2003 • Fugitive Evades Trial, Not Verdict Ventura County Superior Court Judge Ken Riley pronounced 39-year-old Andrew Stuart Luster a fugitive Monday morning after Luster failed to show up in court. Luster, heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune, is charged with 87 criminal counts for sexually assaulting three women after allegedly giving the women the date rape drug gammahydroxybutyrate [GHB]. Ventura County Sheriff's Dept. Public Information Officer Eric Nishimoto said they have not been able to locate Luster, who was released on bail for $1 million after he was arrested in July 2000. Luster's initial bail was set at $10 million, however the court of appeals lowered his bail. Luster's defense attorney Roger Diamond said he wishes he could comment on his client's whereabouts, however Judge Riley initiated a gag order on both the defense and Deputy District Attorney Anthony Wold about a year ago when proceedings began.
"As much as I would like to talk to you about this matter, a gag order remains, despite my objection to the judge," he said. "Today, the judge partially lifted the gag order and is allowing the prosecution to talk, but not the defense. Therefore I must apologize, but I don't want to violate that order." Luster now faces a warrant for his arrest with no chance of bail if he is found, Riley said. The suspect frequently attended clubs and bars in downtown Santa Barbara and Isla Vista. One of the victims was allegedly assaulted after having been drugged at the Wildcat Lounge in downtown Santa Barbara. Dan, a manager from Isla Vista's Study Hall who declined to provide a last name, said as a result of threatening incidents such as the one that occurred at the wildcat, they have employed an 'unattended drink rule,' which requires an employee to throw out any unattended drink. If a customer objects, the Study Hall will issue a new drink; however, it will not give them the unattended drink. "We may lose a little money doing this, but it's worth the safety of our customers," he said. Ventura County Deputy District Attorney Wold was not available for comment.
About Diamond- ojaivalleynews.com/issues2003/01-January2003/01-31-03/01-31-03news2.htmlKaddis goes back to court By Kelly Feser Eells William Kaddis, the Los Angeles real estate agent charged with the illegal clearance of 301 state-protected oak trees on his Lake Casitas-area property, was back in Ventura County Superior Court Jan. 24 - this time, with colorful defense attorney Roger Diamond in tow. Diamond, whose last high-profile client was fugitive and convicted rapist Andrew Luster, joked with a small group of onlookers, saying he was surprised by their "interest in the case. "There's no sex," he smiled. "No one raped anyone."Ventura County Star reporter Charles Levin begged to differ: "Actually, this is considered the largest 'rape of land' in Ventura County history." Two unidentified women murmured their agreement, one of them adding, "And this was in Ojai, where trees are sacred." Diamond said that, though he was new to the case, he hoped Deputy District Attorney Karen Wold would consider "waiving jury on this matter and trying it with the parallel civil case" (in which Kaddis is charged with maintaining an illegal dog kennel and two new counts of creating a nuisance). Wold pointed out that, while she might be willing to waive jury, such discussion was premature. "For one, (presiding) Judge Walsh is a criminal judge. He can't hear both cases, and I'm not going to discuss it before this court." Diamond said he "was just trying to find a way to save the courts some money, to conserve our judicial resources." With respect to the two newest counts of "creating a nuisance," Diamond contended that "it sounds like a possible constitutional violation. I mean, he applied for a permit for a kennel, but couldn't get a hearing because of the other issue. It seems to me that, if a kennel was there, there wouldn't be a nuisance." Aside from pleading not guilty, Kaddis, who now faces a total of 13 criminal charges, had no comment. A new trial date was set for Feb. 27. Outside the courtroom, Diamond was optimistic, and again asked people what their interest in the case was. "That last time," he laughed, referring to the Luster case, "well, if you're going to get trounced, you can at least get some good publicity."
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 17, 2003 23:48:03 GMT -5
www.howardowens.com/index.cfm?action=full_text&ARTICLE_ID=1346More on Luster Posted: 06/24/03 The L.A. Times and other news organizations got scooped bad when Ventura County Star reporter Aron Miller secured Drew Luster's notebook at the hotel he had been hiding at recently, so it isn't surprising that the Times would try smearing Miller: On Saturday, a Star reporter fished a notebook from a trash can at Luster's motel in Puerto Vallarta, motel manager Oscar Lopez told the Associated Press. Motel staff later threw out the notebook, Lopez said. I happen to have it on good authority that the motel manager gave Miller access to the hotel room where he found the notebook. It wasn't in the trash, but neither the AP nor the LAT bothered to verify the facts. They just printed the claim without question. And they should have questioned. If Miller had the notebook, why was it up to Lopez to discard it? If you found a notebook in the trash, would you keep it, throw it out yourself or give it to the hotel manager to throw out? I mean, there is a disconnect between Lopez's claim that Miller found the notebook in the trash and that the hotel staff later threw it out themselves. Yet, neither the Times nor AP bothered to question Lopez about this discrepency. Of course, it's really a minor matter in the larger scheme of things, but I find it rather slimy of the times to smear another journalist on just an unimportant matter -- a matter that could easily have been left out of the story if they couldn't confirm it. It only matters because it contradicts Miller's version of events, not because there would have been anything wrong with Miller or any other reporter retreiving the notebook from the trash. Miller's a good, hocretin reporter. If he said he found the notebook in Luster's room, that's where he got it. Still, the Times did a good job on its story about Luster's hiding the last few months. Of course, the FBI, which has whined about bounty hunter Duane Chapman's handling of the case, didn't bungle it: The couple first contacted the FBI, Labanauskas said, but were frustrated by the response. They then contacted Duane Lee "Dog" Chapman, the bounty hunter who had publicly vowed to find the fugitive. But with only vague information, Chapman was not that interested, Labanauskas said. On June 8, the couple called their hosts in Mexico, asking Labanauskas and Rains to take a look at the "most wanted" list on the FBI's Web site. Under Andrew Luster's name, Carrera's face stared back. "I was 100% sure it was him," Labanauskas said. Why am I not surprised the FBI was slow to respond on a tip about the whereabouts of a convicted rapist? Posted By Howard Owens
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Post by TheTruth on Sept 17, 2003 23:51:37 GMT -5
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