CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES

By Jack Leonard

July 14, 2009 12 AM PT

Beverly Hills fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander dropped his high-powered team of defense lawyers on Monday and began acting as his own attorney in the run-up to his sentencing next month on sexual assault charges.

Alexander told Superior Court Judge David S. Wesley that he is seeking more materials from prosecutors before his Aug. 31 sentencing.

The Indian-born designer, who goes by the professional name Anand Jon, was convicted last year of raping one woman and sexually assaulting six other girls and young women. The charges carry a mandatory life prison term.

Alexander, 35, also faces sexual assault charges in New York and Texas.

-- Jack Leonard

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California

Jack Leonard

As senior editor of investigations, Jack Leonard oversaw the work of a team of investigative reporters. As a reporter, he was part of the team that exposed fraud and abuse in California’s conservatorship system, a series that won several national awards. He went on to investigate how early releases from L.A.’s jail system perverts justice and fosters more crime on the street. Later, he worked on a sweeping expose of abuse and corruption in the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.

CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES

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