3 Victims, County to Share About Half of Luster’s Bail

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Three victims of convicted rapist Andrew Luster will share more than $590,000 of his $1-million bail with Ventura County while the rest will be returned to Luster, according to a judge’s ruling Tuesday.

Whether Luster, who is serving a 124-year prison sentence, will see any of the cash is unlikely. Two of his victims have been awarded a total of more than $39 million in separate lawsuits against Luster, the great-grandson of the late cosmetics legend Max Factor. A third suit is pending.

Tuesday’s restitution hearing before Ventura County Superior Court Judge Edward Brodie hinged more on technical points of law than on any claim that one woman had been hurt more than another. It was the latest twist in a case that captured international attention when Luster vanished during his trial in January and was caught in Puerto Vallarta five months later by a professional bounty hunter.

Duane “Dog” Chapman, who describes himself as “the world’s best bounty hunter,” was denied any share of Luster’s bail earlier this year.

Brodie said that to include Chapman would be rewarding vigilante justice.

Luster, who knocked out his victims by slipping them a date-rape drug, was convicted on multiple counts of rape, poisoning and drug possession. He had contended that the women came to his beachside home in Mussels Shoals to have sex and to appear in his homemade porn movies.

At Tuesday’s hearing, attorneys for victims known in court only as Tonja Doe, Shawna Doe and Carey Doe made claims for the cash based on fees for past and future counseling, lost time at work and in school, legal costs and other expenses.

Brodie awarded Shawna Doe $56,643, Tonja Doe $276,000 and Carey Doe $97,177. County law-enforcement agencies received a total of $161,166.

The award for Tonja, an ex-girlfriend of Luster who has since married and become a mother, included “non-economic damages” for psychological harm. Brodie cited a law allowing such restitution in cases that involve forced oral copulation, but not in the sexual assaults of the other two women.

Attorneys for the other women questioned Brodie’s interpretation but he held firm.

“There are lots of things in the book that don’t make sense to me, but I have to follow the law,” the judge said.

Luster’s attorney, Roger Diamond, argued that the bail not be disbursed until his client’s case reaches the U.S. Supreme Court. Luster will ask the high court to let him appeal his criminal conviction -- a right he forfeited when he fled his trial, according to a state appeals court.

“It’s not fair for the state to cut off his appellate remedies by cutting off his funds,” Diamond told Brodie.

Diamond also said Luster should have some of his bail cash set aside to help support his 12-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter.

The bail money was his client’s only asset, Diamond said. Other attorneys at the hearing were skeptical, saying that Luster reportedly had been interested in lining up big names such as Alan Dershowitz for his action before the Supreme Court.

“From the documents I’ve seen, there’s money out there somewhere,” the judge said.

“We’re all hopeful of that, your honor,” said Scott Karr, a Santa Monica attorney representing Carey Doe.