Court Considers Rape Suspect’s $10-Million Bail

A state appellate court is questioning whether a Ventura County judge violated the constitutional rights of a rape suspect by setting bail at $10 million.

Andrew Luster, a 36-year-old heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune, has been jailed for four months on charges that he drugged and sexually assaulted three women at his Mussel Shoals home.

Defense lawyers say the bail set by Superior Court Judge Art Gutierrez in August is unreasonable and are asking the 2nd District Court of Appeal to order it lowered.

“Obviously it is excessive,” said Santa Monica attorney Roger Jon Diamond, who is representing Luster before the appellate court. “Nobody could make that, maybe Bill Gates and a couple of millionaires. It is just too high for most people, including Mr. Luster.”

So far, Diamond’s argument has been persuasive. The appellate court recently ordered Gutierrez to either set bail at “a reasonable amount with reasonable conditions” or come to court Dec. 14 to explain why Luster’s request should not be granted.

That ruling has touched off an unusual legal battle between prosecutors and Luster’s defense team, and opened a debate on the merits of the high-profile sex case weeks before the preliminary hearing.

Luster is facing 50 criminal counts for allegedly raping three women after giving them a dose of the sedative gamma hydroxybutyrate--a so-called date-rape drug known as GHB or Liquid X. Authorities say he sexually assaulted the women while they were under the influence of the drug and videotaped them having sex.

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Prosecutors contend that Luster, who faces up to 175 years to life in prison if convicted, is a danger to women and a deep-pocketed flight risk who is likely to flee the country if bail is lowered.

Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter Kossoris recently fired off a lengthy written brief defending Gutierrez’s decision and plans to argue the case before the appellate court this month.

“Not only is [Luster] a major flight risk, it appears he has the means, incentive and predisposition to flee,” Kossoris wrote. “Under these circumstances, Judge Gutierrez was well within his discretion to set bail at $10 million.”

Kossoris writes that detectives executing a search warrant at Luster’s home found a passport and financial documents indicating the defendant has assets valued at more than $31 million. According to the brief, Luster also bragged during a police interview that he has property and assets all over the world.

“I’m a wealthy guy,” Luster told police, according to the brief. “I can’t screw up. I am not going to lose my money.”

In an interview Friday, Diamond said his client does not have the financial means to post $10 million bail and is not a flight risk. He said the current bail amount is so high that it violates his client’s 8th Amendment protections against excessive bail.

“The idea is to set the bar high enough to make it difficult but not so high [that] it is impossible to reach,” he said.

Diamond said his client would agree to house arrest, electronic monitoring, drug tests and other conditions if released on bail.

“He is not a flight risk if he is confined to his house with an electronic bracelet and a guard,” Diamond said. “If that were the conditions of his release, what possible interest would the government have to keep him in jail?”

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Diamond also argued that his client is not a safety threat as prosecutors contend. In court papers, Diamond attacked the rape evidence against his client, questioning the credibility of the alleged victims.

A 21-year-old woman whom Luster allegedly drugged and kidnapped from a Santa Barbara bar was so drunk that her memory of those events is questionable, Diamond argues in the brief.

The woman and a male friend, who had been drinking that night, both told police they left the bar with Luster, suddenly felt very drunk and hardly remember how they arrived at his home. Once there, Luster allegedly raped the woman.

But the defense claims the sex was consensual.

Prosecutors have fired back in their own brief, saying Luster once threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend, her new boyfriend and himself. They also argue that there is ample evidence to show that Luster slipped GHB into a glass of water at the Santa Barbara bar, rendering the 21-year-old woman helpless to his sexual advances.

“His intent was to kidnap her and take advantage of her drugged condition by having sex with her, which he proceeded to do,” Kossoris wrote.

The preliminary hearing on the criminal charges is set for Jan. 17.

Diamond said Friday he hopes he can get Luster out of jail before the hearing to assist in his own defense.

“It’s not a foregone conclusion that this is a guilty guy,” he said.