Photographer Pleads Not Guilty to New Count in Sobek Case

The Hollywood photographer charged with murdering model Linda Sobek pleaded not guilty Friday to the additional charge of sodomizing the 27-year-old with an unknown object, a special-circumstance allegation that could bring him the death penalty.

Charles Rathbun, 38, wearing blue jail fatigues for the hearing before Torrance Superior Court Judge Benjamin Aranda, already has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Shortly after his arrest in November, Rathbun, an automobile photographer, told police he accidentally struck and killed the former Raiders cheerleader while showing her how to perform spins in a soon-to-be released Lexus sport utility vehicle.

Although the final autopsy report has not been completed, the coroner’s office has said Sobek’s injuries were not consistent with being struck by a car. She died of asphyxiation from compression to her neck and chest, a coroner’s spokesman said, and was sodomized before she died.