Request to Delay Trial of Date-Rape Suspect Is Denied

On the eve of trial, attorneys for millionaire date-rape suspect Andrew Luster urged a judge Monday to delay jury selection and allow them additional time to mount a defense.

But Ventura County Superior Court Judge Ken Riley denied the request, saying that defense lawyers have had months to prepare. He intends to start jury selection this morning.

Luster’s lawyers have complained for months that prosecutors are concealing evidence while forcing them to trial.

Two weeks ago, they asked Riley to halt the proceedings and give them at least eight more weeks to investigate alleged misconduct by police and prosecutors. Riley denied the request, and the defense asked an appellate court to intervene. The 2nd District Court of Appeal denied the request last week.

On Monday, Los Angeles attorney Kiana Sloan-Hillier told Riley she now intends to take the request to the California Supreme Court.

“We are being forced to go ahead with our hands tied behind our back,” she said. “It is really not fair to the defense.”

Luster, the 38-year-old great-grandson of cosmetics magnate Max Factor, is accused of raping three women after rendering them unconscious with the date-rape drug gamma hydroxybutyrate, known as GHB.

Luster was arrested in July 2000 after one of the women reported being drugged at a downtown Santa Barbara bar and raped at his Mussel Shoals beach house. During a search of Luster’s home, detectives found videotapes of him engaging in sex acts with two other women, allegedly while they were unconscious.

Defense lawyers contend that Luster has been framed by the Ventura County sheriff and district attorney. They say the tapes were altered and witnesses coached to lie.

Sloan-Hillier said that delays in the case can be attributed to the refusal of prosecutors to turn over tapes, photographs and other evidence. She said that the defense only recently obtained a copy of a taped police interview with another woman who suspects she was drugged by Luster.

“Suddenly, here we are on the eve of trial, caught unprepared,” she said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Anthony Wold said defense attorneys have had access to the disputed evidence for more than a year and are stalling.

“Two-and-a-half years this case has been in the system,” Wold said. “The problem is, they want to set their own pace.”

Luster’s attorneys have filed a motion to recuse the Ventura County district attorney’s office. But Sloan-Hillier, who appeared on behalf of lead defense attorney Roger Jon Diamond, said she was not prepared to argue the motion. The matter was postponed.