Fashion designer seeks to overturn sexual assault conviction
A Beverly Hills fashion designer found guilty of sexual assault is seeking to overturn his conviction, alleging that a juror improperly contacted his sister twice during his trial last year and may have been involved in an extortion attempt, defense attorneys said Wednesday.
Lawyers for Anand Jon Alexander also accused the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office of sabotaging their attempts to investigate the conduct by intercepting the juror before a meeting he had arranged with the designer’s sister.
A Los Angeles judge had approved a plan by a defense investigator to secretly record the Jan. 7 meeting, and defense attorneys had invited the district attorney’s office to monitor the event. But the juror did not show up for the Jan. 7 meeting after talking to district attorney’s investigators.
Superior Court Judge David S. Wesley, who approved the defense plan, on Wednesday questioned why investigators didn’t wait until after the meeting to approach the juror and said he was “troubled by the interception of this juror.”
Alexander, who goes by the professional name Anand Jon, was convicted of sexually assaulting seven girls and young women and faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
The designer is seeking to recuse the district attorney’s office from the case, and his attorneys grilled prosecutors and district attorney’s investigators in court Wednesday.
Attorney Leonard B. Levine said the juror told Sanjana Alexander before the verdict that she should reassure her family, adding that “we know he’s innocent.”
District attorney’s investigators testified that they had been concerned that Alexander’s sister may have hatched a plan with the juror in an effort to undermine the verdict. A supervisor testified that he decided that investigators should conduct an independent probe and contact the juror in advance.
The hearing is scheduled to resume April 17.
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