Evidence Flimsy, Rathbun Lawyer Says

Saying evidence in the slaying of model Linda Sobek is flimsy, a defense lawyer told jurors Tuesday that prosecutors never explained why accused photographer Charles Rathbun would throw away a thriving career for such a depraved act.

Attorney Mark Werksman sought to counter the theory that freelance photographer Rathbun lured the former Los Angeles Raiders cheerleader on a phony shoot, seduced her with tequila and marijuana, sodomized her, then killed and buried her when she threatened to tell.

Rathbun was living the American dream, with a devoted girlfriend, a newly purchased home and the esteem of auto makers and magazine publishers, Werksman said in closing arguments to a Torrance Superior Court jury.

Why, he asked, would “a man at the top of his career” resort to an act “of animal depravity?”

“We’re talking about an act so vicious, so barbaric that there’s got to be a better explanation than just saying, ‘Well, he did it. Let’s get on with it,’ ” Werksman said.

His arguments followed Monday’s prosecution summation by Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Mary-Jean Bowman.

Rathbun, 39, a pale figure with thinning hair, looked introspective as Werksman wrapped up his case after six weeks of trial.

In November, Rathbun led authorities to a shallow grave in Angeles National Forest containing the body of Sobek, 27. He later changed his story about what happened but always maintained that Sobek’s death was an accident, Werksman said.

Rathbun had told the jury that Sobek, who was found to have a 0.13% concentration of alcohol in her blood, had consented to sex with him. He said he nearly ran over her with the Lexus he was photographing, and when she got angry and kicked the car, he accidentally suffocated her when he sat on her back while trying to subdue her.

Rathbun could be sentenced to life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder and sodomy with a foreign object. The jury could also may consider the lesser charges of voluntary or involuntary manslaughter.

But Werksman said the jury should reach a reasonable doubt of guilt, acquit Rathbun and let him resume his life.

“If they are listening, if they take it to heart, they’ll have no choice but to find Charles Rathbun not guilty,” he said outside the courtroom.

Werksman said early autopsy reports by Dr. James Ribe, senior deputy medical examiner for the county, were vague about how Sobek was asphyxiated.

Only during the trial, under pressure from prosecutors, did Ribe theorize exactly how she had been choked from behind, Werksman said.

He also attacked the findings of prosecution sexual assault expert Laura Slaughter that Sobek had been attacked with a gun like the .45-caliber pistol seized when Rathbun was arrested.

Werksman called the theory one of several prosecution “red herrings,” noting that Ribe had been far less conclusive about what caused Sobek’s bruises and hemorrhaging.

Pulling out Rathbun’s pistol, Werksman pointed out to jurors its sharp, protruding sight and milled grooves on top of its barrel. Had it been used, Sobek would have shown internal cuts and scrapes as well as bruises, he maintained.

“It was a red herring,” Werksman said. “It was deceitful. It was shameful.”