High Court Rejects Bid by Luster to Appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a bid by Andrew Luster to appeal his rape convictions.

The 40-year-old Luster, a Mussel Shoals surfer and great-grandson of cosmetics legend Max Factor, was convicted in Ventura County Superior Court in absentia after he fled last January during his trial.

His attorney, Roger Diamond of Santa Monica, had contended that an appellate court erred when it refused to allow Luster to challenge the convictions on charges of drugging and raping three women. The court concluded that Luster forfeited his right to appeal when he jumped bail and fled.

Luster, who was apprehended by a bounty hunter in Mexico last summer and returned to the United States by federal authorities, is serving a 124-year sentence in state prison.

Diamond said Monday that he was disappointed with the high court’s ruling.

“We knew we had an uphill battle,” he said. “But I decided to go there out of an abundance of caution. We did make the effort. We didn’t want to leave any stone unturned.”

Diamond was seeking to challenge Luster’s conviction based on a series of contested rulings. He argued earlier that there were significant errors by the Superior Court judge, mostly dealing with the admissibility of evidence, which he contended hurt the defense’s case and resulted in an unfair trial.

“The state court dismissed Luster’s appeal not on the merit of the case but because he was a fugitive,” he said. “No court has actually heard his appeal.”