Post by stagetec on Aug 19, 2003 19:22:20 GMT -5
Posted on Mon, Aug. 18, 2003
Mother of convicted date rapist Andrew Luster defends son, says he'll be freed
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - The mother of convicted date rapist Andrew Luster said Monday she was shocked by videotaped footage used to convict the Max Factor heir of assaulting three women and called descriptions of her son as a sexual predator "blatant lies."
In an interview with CNN's Paula Zahn, Elizabeth Luster acknowledged she was surprised by the tapes, but suggested she was more troubled by their public airing than by their content.
"I just felt that they were acting out sexual fantasies and private behavior they never expected anyone else in the world to see," she said of her son and others on the tapes. "Something that people do in the privacy of their own homes suddenly becomes international news."
Asked if the tapes disturbed her on any level, she said, "Certainly it was disturbing because it became public."
Luster also said she expects her son to be exonerated on appeal and released from prison.
Luster, who jumped $1 million bail during his trial, was convicted in absentia of drugging and raping three women and sentenced to 124 years in prison. He was captured by bounty hunters in Mexico six months later and returned to the United States in June to begin serving his sentence.
Prosecutors say the 39-year-old great-grandson of cosmetics legend Max Factor lured women to his beach house in Mussell Shoals where he used the date-rape drug GHB to render them unconscious, then videotaped himself sexually assaulting them.
Last week a judge ordered him to pay $19 million to one of his victims, who sued him.
Zahn also interviewed Luster attorney Kiana Sloan-Hillier, who said she believes the Max Factor heir fled because he felt he was not getting a fair trial.
She called his trial a "kangaroo court" and said he told her videotaped footage not shown in court would corroborate his contention that the sex was consensual.
Luster's mother said she takes offense to characterizations of her son as a sociopath and sexual predator.
"He's not any of those things that have been described," Elizabeth Luster said. "Those were extrapolations that were made up mostly ... mostly they were blatant lies."
She visited her son last week and said he was depressed and "kind of resigned" to his fate, but also "hopeful."
Sloan-Hillier said an appeal was filed last month with the California Supreme Court.
The action seeks to overturn a lower court decision of July 2 that rejected Luster's attempt to appeal his conviction, Roger Diamond, another of Luster's lawyers, said by phone.
California's high court has 90 days to decide whether to hear the action, which was filed July 21, Diamond said.
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Mother of convicted date rapist Andrew Luster defends son, says he'll be freed
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - The mother of convicted date rapist Andrew Luster said Monday she was shocked by videotaped footage used to convict the Max Factor heir of assaulting three women and called descriptions of her son as a sexual predator "blatant lies."
In an interview with CNN's Paula Zahn, Elizabeth Luster acknowledged she was surprised by the tapes, but suggested she was more troubled by their public airing than by their content.
"I just felt that they were acting out sexual fantasies and private behavior they never expected anyone else in the world to see," she said of her son and others on the tapes. "Something that people do in the privacy of their own homes suddenly becomes international news."
Asked if the tapes disturbed her on any level, she said, "Certainly it was disturbing because it became public."
Luster also said she expects her son to be exonerated on appeal and released from prison.
Luster, who jumped $1 million bail during his trial, was convicted in absentia of drugging and raping three women and sentenced to 124 years in prison. He was captured by bounty hunters in Mexico six months later and returned to the United States in June to begin serving his sentence.
Prosecutors say the 39-year-old great-grandson of cosmetics legend Max Factor lured women to his beach house in Mussell Shoals where he used the date-rape drug GHB to render them unconscious, then videotaped himself sexually assaulting them.
Last week a judge ordered him to pay $19 million to one of his victims, who sued him.
Zahn also interviewed Luster attorney Kiana Sloan-Hillier, who said she believes the Max Factor heir fled because he felt he was not getting a fair trial.
She called his trial a "kangaroo court" and said he told her videotaped footage not shown in court would corroborate his contention that the sex was consensual.
Luster's mother said she takes offense to characterizations of her son as a sociopath and sexual predator.
"He's not any of those things that have been described," Elizabeth Luster said. "Those were extrapolations that were made up mostly ... mostly they were blatant lies."
She visited her son last week and said he was depressed and "kind of resigned" to his fate, but also "hopeful."
Sloan-Hillier said an appeal was filed last month with the California Supreme Court.
The action seeks to overturn a lower court decision of July 2 that rejected Luster's attempt to appeal his conviction, Roger Diamond, another of Luster's lawyers, said by phone.
California's high court has 90 days to decide whether to hear the action, which was filed July 21, Diamond said.
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Somebody tell him it doesnt' work.