No New Trial for Anand Jon
Designer Anand Jon (ne Alexander) will remain jailed—and eventually imprisoned— after a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge upheld the sexual-assault conviction originally imposed on Nov. 13, 2008. Judge David S. Wesley made the ruling on July 6.
Jon’s defense team was seeking a retrial after it learned that one of the jurors in the original trial made alleged improper contacts with Jon’s sister Sanjana, also a designer.
The court found that the juror, Alvin Dymally, was merely flirting with Sanjana Jon, and Wesley ruled that the context of the correspondence did not interfere with the defendant receiving a fair trial. Jon’s lawyers alleged that Dymally switched his vote to guilty after Sanjana Jon rebuffed his advances, but Wesley found no proof.
Jon was convicted of 14 counts, including forcible rape, and now faces sentencing on Aug. 31. Dymally and Sanjana Jon face contempt hearings in September.
Jon’s initial arrest came on the eve of Los Angeles Fashion Week in 2007, when a young woman reported to police that Jon had raped her in his Beverly Hills apartment. Following the arrest, a number of young models, some under age 18, came forward accusing Jon of various sexual assaults.
Jon allegedly lured many of the young women via the Internet and social-networking sites such as MySpace by leading them to believe they would work for him as models. He was set to launch a new denim line.
His attorneys said they plan to appeal the ruling.—Robert McAllister
