Posted by David Greenwald | Date: October 10, 2019 | in: Breaking News, Civil Rights, Opinion, Sacramento Region
Freedom For Anand Jon Alexander, Based On Recent Favourable Chabges And Evidence Of Factual Innocence:
Read Book
In 2008, Anand Jon Alexander, a rising star in the fashion design world, was convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault and received a life sentence in prison. He is widely believed to have been wrongfully convicted of these crimes.
As his petition for commutation filed by his attorneys notes, “Mr. Alexander’s tainted trial and unreliable verdict and subsequently disproportionate prison sentence has resulted in a travesty of justice.”
Jeffrey Deskovic, himself an exoneree and head of the Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation, told the Vanguard, “Anand Jon’s case is fraught with prosecutorial misconduct and bad lawyering. It is no wonder he was wrongfully convicted.”
In a letter, Mr. Deskovic, who will be the Vanguard’s keynote speaker in a few weeks, added, “I have never seen a wrongful conviction case as broad and complex as this one. It’s absolutely stunning!”
Similarly, having reviewed the evidence of factual innocence that was withheld by the police for over a decade, Exoneree Obie Anthony, founder of Exoneratednation.org, and former California Assemblywoman Patty Lopez, the author of Assembly Bill 1909, described the injustice against Anand Jon Alexander as “one of the worst cases of police misconduct…utterly shocking…poster boy victim of 1909 violations.”
Corey Parker, Counsel for American Justice Alliance, argues in his amicus curiae brief, “Unless this Court rectifies this wrongful conviction, minority groups and individuals in the State of California will live in fear of being subject to such similar state-sponsored discrimination and underhanded, unconstitutional tactics by the very law enforcement tasked with protecting them.”
Appellate Attorney Julia Anna Trant adds, “I am convinced that Mr. Alexander’s conviction is one of the worst miscarriages of justice I have ever encountered in my work as a legal professional. While working on Mr. Alexander’s case, I could not stop being astounded by the amount of violations of Mr. Alexander’s constitutional rights, the rules of criminal procedure, and the rules of evidence.”
While there are a number of complaints, including juror misconduct, Brady violations and police misconduct, a lesser-known but serious problem with his trial was the subtle but overt and egregious appeal to racial and religious prejudice.
In pretrial motions, the defense was able to get the judge to keep race and religion out of the case. However, they kept coming back in.
For instance, in a debate over whether a book would be admitted into evidence, the defense argued that “the court already said we’re keeping religion out of this case.”
During voir dire, Deputy DA Young noted, “I thought earlier when the court ruled we wouldn’t delve into religion, it wouldn’t touch on that area, so I didn’t object to it originally, but I thought it got into the moral, religious, spiritual areas we were trying to stay from.”
The judge noted, “I’m not going to permit it,” and later clarified, “No, it’s out, I’m not going to allow it.”
However, despite the court’s admonishment, Ms. Young on behalf of the state was able to get racial issues before the jury during her closing arguments.
Mr. Parker writes, “Mr. Alexander’s conviction has been tainted by myriad due process violations and inescapable prejudice. The role that race, religion, and national origin played in his conviction has shaken the belief of Amici that South Asians, Middle Easterners, and other minorities can receive equal protection under the laws of this state.”
We can see these appeals in the transcript of Deputy DA Frances Young’s rebuttal closing arguments. The alleged victims are 19 girls – who are white.
Ms. Young sets the scene, noting that all of the girls described the same scene – an assault on a “cruddy air mattress… with dirty sheets, dirty towels, smelly t-shirts.”
She argued, “You know that Ferrari T-shirt that the clerk has. I don’t know if you want to do that, take a whiff of it. It’s not pleasant. It corroborates exactly what they said. He smelled. His apartment was disgusting.”
Later she added, “They all told you he smelled.”
As Mr. Parker points out, this is not an accident. He writes, “Mr. Alexander was a filthy outsider to the community, a ‘dirty’ and ‘smelly’ ‘Hindu from India,’ who read foreign Hebrew symbols ‘from right to left’…”
Mr. Alexander, from India, also has a Jewish background.
Mr. Parker argued, “The gratuitous remarks made in Mr. Alexander’s case served no purpose other than to ‘inflame and prejudice the minds of the jurors against the defendant because he happened to be a [South Asian immigrant].’”
But perhaps more egregious, Ms. Young played on racial stereotypes as well.
She noted in her rebuttal, “Being a minority, I noticed that they were all white.”
She was able to work in the reference subtly, despite official judicial admonishment not to bring race into the equation.
Here the DA uses that longtime racial dog whistle, the fear of the white jurors that innocent, young, white girls or women will become the victims of a predatory person of color.
Mr. Parker argues, “Insinuating that a minority defendant preys upon white women is a highly inflammatory tactic that has been consistently treated as prosecutorial misconduct warranting relief.”
He notes that Florida’s high court reversed a death sentence because the prosecutor’s inquiry into the race of past victims was a “deliberate attempt to insinuate that appellant had a habit of preying on white women.”
Previously, courts found this to be a prejudicial error in a case where the prosecution argued that the black defendant told the white victim “something about white people having been taking advantage of the colored people and, of course, he wanted to get even with the white people.”
Argues Mr. Parker, “Statistics have shown decisively that a victim’s race can powerfully sway a jury, even to the extent that the race of a victim can play a dispositive role in whether a defendant lives or dies.”
Mr. Parker adds, “After portraying Mr. Alexander as a mystical and smelly foreigner, the prosecution maximized the prejudicial impact by presenting a contrast with the whiteness of the alleged victims. Beyond merely insinuating that Mr. Alexander had a preference for white women, the prosecution directly told the jury that he preyed specifically and exclusively on white women. This tactic presents a clear case of misconduct, and its prejudicial impact cannot reasonably be questioned.”
In a recent Supreme Court case, the court ruled, in reviewing the history of the state of Mississippi’s peremptory strikes in the Flowers case, that evidence “strongly supports the conclusion that the State’s use of peremptory strikes in Flowers’ sixth trial was motivated in substantial part by discriminatory intent.”
Indeed, the state attempted to strike all 36 black prospective jurors over the court of the first four trials – Curtis Flowers has been tried six separate times for his alleged role in the murder of four employees of a Mississippi furniture store.
Mr. Flowers is black; three of the four victims were white. The US Supreme Court ultimately found that the trial court “committed clear error in concluding that the State’s peremptory strike of black prospective juror Carolyn Wright was not motivated in substantial part by discriminatory intent.”
In this case, the prosecutor has improperly injected race into a trial, as Mr. Parker argues. This would tend to “undermine [the courts’] strong commitment to rooting out bias, no matter how subtle, indirect or veiled.”
As Patty Lopez, a former California Assemblymember noted in her letter to US Judge Dean Pregerson in January, in support of the writ of habeas corpus, the trial judge on the record stated he was “troubled” with this case and “not happy with the way the [prosecutors] handled this case.””
Obie Anthony, another exoneree, told the Vanguard, “In any case prosecutorial misconduct is egregious and in my opinion bad acting prosecutor should be held accountable, and where there are echoes of misconduct, one should want to take a look, such is the Anand Alexander case.”
There are a lot of problems with the case of Anand Jon Alexander, but appeals to racial and religious prejudice were clear and overt during his trial and need to be rectified during the post-conviction process.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Dallas prosecutors move to dismiss all charges against Anand Jon
Dallas prosecutors move to dismiss all charges against Anand Jon
After indicting (June 2007) Anand Jon on three felony counts and dragging those charges for more than a decade, the Dallas District Attorney’s Office has now dismissed ALL charges in response to Anand Jon’s demand for immediate trial at the Dallas Court Room of the Honorable Judge Brandon Birmingham.
Anand Jon has suffered 11 years of a draconian 59 years to life prison sentence and continues to hold steadfast to his innocence. There was neither physical evidence (not a single “scratch” on anyone), nor were there any percipient witnesses to corroborate any criminal conduct. Additionally, Anand Jon passed a lie detector test to further prove his innocence. In April 2007, despite finding that Anand Jon had no history of violence, he was not a flight risk, and he was not a threat to anyone, Judge Elden Fox of the Beverly Hills’ court set Anand Jon’s bail at $1.3 million dollars, which was promptly paid. However, Beverly Hills Police Department (“BHPD”) re-arrested Anand Jon during a court hearing (Jun. 12, 2007) by convincing the Dallas Police to file these Dallas charges (the same claims that had already been investigated and rejected earlier in Dec. 2006) which in turn revoked Anand Jon’s California bail and crippled his defense.
Beverly Hills Police Department Det. George Elwell testified, and the L.A. prosecution assured the L.A. trial court, that they had “met their burden” and turned over everything and had run background searches on all prosecution witnesses wherein they found no criminal records or impeachment evidence whatsoever. However, at least five criminal convictions, multiple acts of moral turpitude, and impeachment involving the prosecution witnesses has since been confirmed to have existed during that time but was withheld from Anand Jon’s defense team and the trial jury. The Brady errors and subsequent prejudice is self-evident because the jury found Anand Jon “not guilty” and/or “hung” on those complainants for whom similar criminal records or impeachment were revealed to the jury. Despite providing substantial amounts of newly discovered and previously withheld evidence by the BHPD that pointed not just to Anand Jon’s factual innocence, but showed he was the victim of a conspiracy among scorned women and disgruntled business associates, the Dallas District Attorney moved to dismiss all charges against Anand Jon for “neutral” reasons without further justification. Dallas defense counsel Rajish Jose of the Beltz Law Firm noted that the Dallas prosecutor’s purported reasons to drop all three accusers and all charges are due to Mr. Alexander’s convictions in California and the “cost of transport” from California. Such excuses are absurd and if anything, an attempt to cover up the litany of transgressions by law enforcement that caused the conviction of an innocent man in the overlapping California case.
Under the Dallas prosecutor’s own reasoning, the Dallas cases should have been dismissed almost ten years ago when Anand Jon was convicted (Nov. 13, 2008); or at least, when Anand Jon was convicted (Aug. 31, 2009). Certainly, not after a decade and only upon Anand Jon’s independent demand for trial and at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses to all parties and tax payers.
Not only has the Dallas prosecutor given statements in the media well after Anand Jon’s California convictions, but as recently as last year, arranged for “open discovery” and turned over Brady materials.1 Therefore, this dismissal appears to be a knee-jerk attempt to insulate the insidious joint investigation between the BHPD and other law enforcement agencies across the country. In fact, officers from the BHPD, after being caught red-handed in gross misconduct, (that would qualify for felony charges against the police & prosecutors under the new 2017 California Assembly Bill 1909 law signed by Jerry Brown and authored by Party Lopez of the 39th District, who is running for office), were supposed to be subpoenaed for a show cause hearing in Dallas.2 Additionally, attorney Corey Parker of the AmericanJusticeAlliance.org has filed an Amicus letter in support of Anand Jon’s writ of habeas corpus at the California Supreme Court highlighting the extraordinary racial & religiously biased overtones and communal inflammatory tactics employed by the L.A. prosecutors in getting the jury to convict this “foreigner” from India who “intertwined spirituality;” “meditated…sat cross-legged on the floor;” “read foreign symbols [Hebrew] from right-to-left;” and targeted “white women,” despite the L.A. trial court’s ruling to “not delve into any religious, moral, or spiritual areas.”
The retroactive implications of these favorable change of circumstances upon getting relief in the California convictions is all the more profound because, after admitting the lack of any physical evidence or percipient witnesses to corroborate any criminal conduct, the L.A. prosecutors repeatedly relied upon a supposed “very rich history of sexual violence in other states” to accomplish the convictions. Incredibly, Anand Jon had not gone to trial at that point on any out-of-state charges whatsoever, much less been found “guilty” on any such allegations.
Instead, Anand Jon has since favorably dismissed all such out-of-state charges. Anand Jon’s legal victories, New York (Feb. 2013), Houston (Dec. 2013), and now in Dallas (May 2018), are tremendously compelling towards relief in California because these are essentially one intertwined case featuring the same witnesses, complainants, and overlapping claims. The California cases hinged entirely on the “credibility” of the accusers and a deadlocked jury delivering a mixed verdict (not guilty, hung jury, & guilty) after 2 weeks of deliberations. A few months after the L.A. trial, “juror misconduct” was declared with prejudice being presumed, yet no new trial was granted showing the continued prejudicial effects of the corrupt trial proceedings Anand Jon suffered.
1 The Dallas prosecutor turned over Child Protective Service (“CPS”) records in 2016 showing a disturbing pattern of virtually identical false allegations by one Dallas complainant and witness at Anand Jon’s L.A. trial. A year before the accuser met Anand Jon, she had accused her own brother and his best friend of almost identical behavior under a similar scenario of being drugged and assaulted. Not only were these claims rejected after a thorough investigation by CPS and law enforcement, but this accuser required institutionalization and psychological treatment for her documented unstable behavior.
2 On Sep. 7, 2017, subpoenas from Texas lead to the Los Angeles Superior Court ordering the BHPD to produce the voluminous items they were legally bound to turn over in 2007/2008 but failed to do so, and/or explain in an affidavit why several of these known items and favorable information has since gone “missing.” When the BHPD, via their attorneys, refused to provide such an affidavit, Anand Jon took up the LAX court’s own recommendation to subpoena the officers to testify in Dallas which in turn immediately lead to the Dallas prosecutor moving to dismiss the cases. The Defense’s opposition to dismissal summarized face to face meeting where the Dallas prosecutor assured that he would admit on the record that the REAL reason for dismissal was due to the fact their complaining witnesses were no longer found to be “credible.” However, the same Dallas prosecutor apparently backpedaled on this promise.
Contact: Info@AmericanJusticeAlliance.org; https://www.change.org/p/jerry-brown-free-anand-jon-alexander
Miss Universe Natalie Glebova, Sanjana Jon,Salman Khan,Anand Jon,Shashi Abraham
Locked-up fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander claims conspiracy put him behind bars for rape charges
Fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander had been sentenced to 59 years to life for sexual assault and rape charges in California, but is convinced he will get out of jail someday soon. (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News)
NEW YORK — Fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander has been portrayed as a predator and monster in coast-
to-coast cases accusing him of raping aspiring models he lured to his apartment with the promise of fame.
But here’s how Alexander sees himself: an accomplished artist featured on “America’s Next Top Model” who
once worked with the likes of Paris Hilton, a practitioner of yoga, an admitted philanderer — but not a
criminal.
“We were all searching for companionship. We were all searching for success,” he said during a jailhouse
interview this week with The Associated Press. “The expectations were different. We got so caught up in the
whole hype.”
The 38-year-old is lanky, with a wide grin, thick black hair stylishly cut and Buddy Holly glasses tucked into the
front of his drab prison jumpsuit. He is relaxed and articulate as he explains why he believes he was a victim
and says his conviction and sentence of 59 years to life will be overturned based on new evidence that he says
exposes a conspiracy.”I have 100 percent faith and confidence that I will be freed,” Alexander said shortly after
a
court appearance in Manhattan, one of several jurisdictions where he’s faced criminal charges.
Alexander was on the brink of fame and fortune, living a fast life of women, celebrities and travel, until allegations surfaced in 2007 that he was preying on wannabe models…
During this era, he said, he wasn’t good at separating business from pleasure. He dated multiple women at
once; most he met online. They traveled with him and stayed with him in his apartments in New York and
Beverly Hills. Many of these women would later go on to accuse him of forcing them to perform lurid sex acts.
Alexander willingly admits he was a lousy, selfish boyfriend who was taking advantage of his newfound fame.
“My culture created the Kama Sutra,” the Kerala, India-born Alexander said, referring to an ancient Hindu text
on sexual behavior. “Sex is not something that intimidates me.”But he said he didn’t force women into
7
anything. While he was working on a deal to take his brand public, he says, the conspiracy was growing slowly
around him, made up of angry, bitter women who felt partially responsible for his success and wanted more
than he was giving them.
“It was all about me and my brand. I spoiled a lot of relationships,” he said. “Some of the things — the speed of
the lifestyle, how much I affected them emotionally — I can understand how some of these people were hurt.”
Los Angeles prosecutors have a different take. Alexander was convicted there in 2008 on more than a dozen
counts, including rape and multiple counts of committing a lewd act on a child.
Evidence relied heavily on the testimony of accusers..Prosecutors played a homemade videotape in which Alexander asked a 17-year-old girl to strip and then assaulted her. The girl said on the tape that she was 18 but testified in court that Alexander told her to lie about her age.
Alexander is convinced the women who accused him of rape and sexual assault conspired against him. (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News)
Seven other women were called to tell jurors about alleged assaults in New York and Texas, where the designer was also indicted.
The Associated Press does not generally name people who have said they were sexually abused.
Alexander was found not guilty of four felonies and jurors could not reach a verdict on three counts. He was sentenced to 59 years to life. A trial appeal was denied.
What they didn’t have during trial were email exchanges between some of the women that Alexander and his defense say prove they were conspiring. Alexander says he now has messages that show they were recruiting women for the case. The messages discuss false promises, money and how he “pressured them,” which isn’t a crime, his defense said.
Alexander says they hacked into his MySpace page. He says they didn’t have enough to get prosecutors interested, so they trolled for more women online and brainwashed his most recent fling. Her trip to the Beverly Hills police touched off his arrest.
“And then the next day, 20 cops with guns arrested me,” he said.
Alexander also says he has evidence of prosecutorial and juror misconduct. During trial, a male juror contacted his sister, Sanjana. But the judge could not uncover whether any misconduct occurred because district attorney investigators intercepted the juror before he could meet with Sanjana Jon, who was wearing a wire.
After the verdict, Alexander was brought to New York. Prosecutors here said they allowed him to plead guilty earlier this year to one charge of criminal sexual act to spare the victims from testifying at two trials. He was sentenced last week to what amounted to time served. He is still awaiting charges in Dallas and Houston.
Meanwhile, his attorney is working on filing the paperwork with a California judge they hope will overturn his conviction. Alexander’s sister has held fundraisers in India attended by Bollywood stars. Stories in Indian media proclaim his innocence. Dozens of supporters attended his sentencing in New York.
His company is on hold.
Alexander waits. “The truth tends to surface,” he said.
Fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander avoids jail in New York sex assault case
By SHAYNA JACOBS | NEW YORK DAILY NEWS | APR 03, 2013 | 12:32 AM
Judge Cassandra Mullen branded Anand Jon Alexander a level 3 offender, the highest-risk designation under the law in New York. (Jefferson Siegel)
A celebrity fashion designer — already serving a lengthy prison sentence in California …— was sentenced Tuesday to time served… Mostof the 49-count indictment against Anand Jon Alexander, who appeared on “America’s Next Top Model,” was dismissed…
In exchange for his plea, prosecutors agreed to turn over documents his attorney believes will help him win his appeal in California, where he’s serving a 59-years to life…
One of Alexander’s attorneys, Kimberly Summers, said his defense team now has “what we think will effectively help us fight his California” conviction, referring to the documents Alexander scored in the deal.
Summers stressed there was only one victim in New York .
“EVEN AS A MINORITY OF ONE…THE TRUTH IS STILL THE TRUTH” Mahatma Gandhi
An innocent man, Anand Jon Alexander, is suffering a 59 year to life sentence in California following a wrongful conviction in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2009 [cs#BA-327190]. He has been locked up for a decade under inhumane conditions.
This was a closely contested , controversial high profile trial(2008-2009) that is now back in the California state courts on appeal-via writ of Habeas Corpus.
The facts and law now presented clearly show Mr Alexander was not only falsely accused and framed but that he did not receive anything remotely close to a fair trial by an impartial jury of 12.
This was not an evenhanded investigation but an inquisition and modern day witch hunt. The toxic combination of due process violations were irrevocably prejudicial. Therefore, relief must be granted.
The prosecution dropped 1 complaintants and over dozens charges on the eve of trial. By the end of these tainted trial proceedings, the jury was deadlocked for over 11 days, returned a mixed ( Not Guilty; Guilty and Hung) verdicts(Nov 13’2008). Jury misconduct was suspected. Subsequently, the trial court declared that there was in fact juror misconduct “no doubt about it”and the “Prejudice was presumed”(Jul 6’09). However, based on an incomplete, unreliable and perjured record a new trial was not granted. Due to the numerous outstanding issues & red flags of due process violations, the trial judge invited a writ and offered to bring mr. Alexander back if the above Due Process violations were later substantiated. It has. Relief is required.
An appellate writ was just filed (Oct 30’2016) with the California courts including evidence not previously seen by any jury which shows Mr. Alexander, was in fact targeted, conspired against and deprived on a fair trial.(Fn1).
Some of the Grounds compelling relief include:
A. PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT: After admitting on record that they lacked sufficient physical- forensic evidence or corroboration witnesses, prosecution asserted that Mr. Alexander had “a very rich history of sexual violence in other states”. This was a lie. In this multi-jurisdictional case , after relying heavily on “evidence” of unadjudicated (anywhere) & uncharged ( in California)complainants from out of state claims as “corroboration” to convict in California, those allegations have turned out to be illusory; those charges were either resolved favorably( 2013 in New York) or dismissed in its entirety( 2013 & 2017 in Houston & Dallas, Texas).
——————-
Fn1) Since there are unresolved material factual discrepancies, under the law, an evidentiary hearing is required . However, the LA Trial Court miscalculated the deadlines and misapplied the law in denying the initial writ (Aug 30’2016) without such an evidentiary hearing.
———————-
Self authenticating online contents; photos; videos alongside corroborating witness declarations not only show that Mr. Alexander was framed by a colluding group out for money, notoriety & revenge, but that The Beverly Hills Police & Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office covered up the conspiracy , used false statements and suborned perjury see Napue V Illinois (1959)360 US 264; Pen C 1473 sub(b)(1) Re Hall (1981) 30 Cal3d 408; Wright (1978) 78 CalApp3d 788.
The LA prosecutors and the Beverly Hills Police Department employed underhanded racist & xenophobic tactics while also withholding & or destroying evidence favorable to Mr. Alexander see Brady V Maryland 373 US 83(1963);Kyle’s V Whitley 514 US 419 (1995). Witnesses were tampered with, coerced and intimidated. A juror was intercepted. Defense counsel was denigrated in open court and a trial attorney was secretly threatened. Despite being explicitly forbidden that prosecution should not go into any”religion, moral or spiritual areas” or imply any” drugging”, such Court rulings were violated with impunity as Mr. Alexander’s religion, his “meditation”; ” reading (Hebrew) right to left”; foreign”- Indian heritage were repeatedly demonized..
While the Trial Court put on record how” troubled” (43RT 16556) it was “not happy with the way the people( Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office) handled this case” fact is thus far the prosecutors have gotten away without any real consequences.
Post trial proceedings investigations and forensics have confirmed that several of the alleged victims in the instant case had significant impeachment including virtually identical prior false allegations, criminal records, probation and history of Acts of moral turpitude that were withheld. In fact the prosecution’s core theory that their Witnesses were naive inexperienced sheltered -had no62nd of the above impeachment; that none of these girls had any connection between each other had no motives no interest in any publicity, civil suits-money; “no reason to lie” and only came forward to tell the truth. All of the above has sense been exposed to be false.
Mr Alexander is the posterboy victim of such brazen abuse of power addressed by, California Assembly Bill 1909 (amending CA Penal Code sec. 141), that was passed recently (Nov2 2016) specifically to combat the epidemic proportions of prosecutorial misconduct that has corrupted our justice system costing many innocent lives; overcrowding prisons & exploiting tax payers dollars. (fn2)
——————
Fn 2) Nowadays the rampant prosecution & police misconduct, lies and abuse of power especially targeting minority male’s has come to light (via technology, body cams, the internet and cell phones). However, back at mr. Alexander’s 2008 trial there was no such public awareness and trial attorneys merely “argued”( without actually presenting evidence) such insidious tampering of evidence & withness. Several prosecution witnessess have testified ed and or declared under penalty of perjury how they were improperly inflamed and of intimidated into turning against Mr. Alexander not just by conspirators, nlny by the police and prosecutors themselves.
—————–
B. INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL: the Trial attorneys fell far below the constitutional standard of representation as they utterly failed to investigate, much less support (with evidence that was readily available)the very theory they promised (see Strickland V Washington. 466 US 668(1984); Wiggins V Smith 539 US 510(2003)). Trial attorneys utterly failed to object to even the outright Crawford violation (541 US 36(2004) of prosecution using a key medical expert who had zero first-hand knowledge of the alleged Melendez Diaz 577 US 305 (2009). Bullcoming v New Mexico 564 us 647 (2011).
Investigations confirm that the trial attorneys work were plagued with multiple conflicts of interest including: one attorney having secretly applied for and switched sides ( to become an employee of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office) during the active case-effectively sabotaging defense from withine; another was threatened by the prosecutors during trial with “arrest” & compromised ; yet another trial attorney was in a secret carnal relationship with a key witness who subsequently became “unavailable” and has since had a child with that attorney(Fn2)
——————-
Fn2) Mr Chase, the primary Attorney in charge of Technology (a major factor in instant case) has given a declaration October 26th 2016 exposing the fact that he was under threat of arrest by the Los Angeles District Attorney during the trial. Lead trial attorney Levine has been exposed of a myriad of perjury and significant prior inconsistent statements in the self severing May 2014 declaration submitted to insulate & excuse the disturbing ineffective assistance of counsel . His co counsel Anthony Brooklier committed suicide in November 2016.
—————–
C. JUROR MISCONDUCT Besides having lied in questionnaire to sneak in as a juror(#12), this individual broke his oath and the law, then committed additional perjury on the stand; then plead the fifth to “not further incriminate” himself. While the court declared “Juror misconduct” ( and presumed was prejudice,
Jul 6″2009) and fined the maximum contempt of court, a new trial was denied back then (because there was no clear or complete record what extrinsic information the juror actually got.) However, at least two additional witnesses have since exposed this Juror of violating court”s instructions & the law ( People v Nesler 16 Cal439th 561(1997) ; Remmer 350 US 37(1956))by soliciting extrinsic information from them; researching the media ; considering why the defendant”did not testify” and expressing outright bias against Mr. Alexander during trial.
This tainted trial was so full of due process violations that it is simply incongruent with the constitutionally assured fair trial by an impartial jury of 12 . whether individually or collectively analyzed these errors caused such prejudice that relief is mandated.
We urge you to get involved to FREE ANAND JON. This sort of miscarriage of justice that simply cannot be allowed to occur In 21st century United States of America, which is supposed to be the beacon of fairness and Justice for ALL
Thank you, we look forward to a FAVORABLE & productive outcome.
Sincerely
Anand Jon Alexander Legal Team
info@anandjon.org
August 28, 2008 -- Updated 2210 GMT (0610 HKT
CNN) — On the eve of his trial, prosecutors have struck 30 counts from an indictment charging an up-and-coming fashion designer with luring aspiring models via the Internet and sexually assaulting them.
Los Angeles, California.
The ages of the alleged victims range from 14 to 21. He denies the charges.
Jury selection is to begin next week. If convicted, Alexander’s sentence could range from 122 years to life in prison, Robison said.
“Obviously, it’s still a substantial case,” Robison said.
Leonard Levine, a lawyer for the 34-year-old Alexander, said the move to drop half of the charges indicates prosecutors had second thoughts. “Obviously we welcome this action.” he said. “It’s clearly indicative of the fact that they question the credibility of their complaining witnesses.”
Sandi Gibbons, another district attorney’s spokeswoman, said the move was merely an attempt to streamline a complex case, and that the stricken counts could be renewed at any time.
A Los Angeles grand jury indicted the designer in fall 2007 on 54 felony and five misdemeanor counts, including forcible rape, sexual battery by restraint and lewd acts upon a child, prosecutors said at the time.
At the time of his arrest, Alexander was about to launch a line of jeans and Indian-inspired tops. He also was working on a VH-1 reality show. The Indian-born designer, professionally known as Anand Jon, has worked with Paris and Nicky Hilton, Ivanka Trump, Mary J. Blige and other celebrities, according to published reports.
Prosecutors alleged that Alexander met women online and assaulted them when they visited him in pursuit of modeling opportunities.
Prosecutors called him a sexual predator. His defense attorneys have said he is the victim of thwarted fashionista ambition and the target of an extortion campaign.
“None of the charges are true,” attorney Levine said.
“There are a variety of (motives) that will come out at the trial,” he added. “Some may have involved economic motive. Some may have involved revenge for not becoming famous actresses and models.”
Police say the trouble began with a single sexual encounter during L.A.’s fashion week in March 2007. He allegedly invited a 19-year-old lingerie model from Seattle, Washington, to visit after corresponding with her over the Internet for months.
She told the Beverly Hills police Alexander sexually assaulted her. According to police, other women began to come forward, first in Los Angeles, then in New York and Texas, where he still faces charges.
The 19-year-old and two other original accusers are still a part of the case, Robison said.
The case has received international attention,especially in India, where Alexander’s family is well known. In the United States, prayer vigils have been held for him, and his defense has drawn support from celebrities.
Hamptons Swag Estates: A Media Primer
Fashion Scandals!
FASHION VIOLATIONS
In 2008, the hard-partying bicoastal designer Anand Jon (above, with models), who outfitted Lydia Hearst-Shaw and Paris and Nicky Hilton in maxi skirts and muscle tees, was found guilty by a Los Angeles court on one count of rape and 15 counts of sexual assault against seven women as young as 14. Jon is currently serving a 59-year-to-life sentence in Rikers Island jail and awaiting trial for a second campaign of sexual molestation involving a dozen women in the New York area.
Indian American designer Anand Jon Alexander to publish a book, says he is the victim of police racism
By AB Wire | June 6, 2017
Anand Jon was sentenced to 59 years to life on August 31, 2009
Anand Jon Alexander (Courtesy of twitter)
Indian American fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander, who is now serving a 59-year sentence for rape, is writing a book on his life in which he says he is the victim of police racism.
The 40-year-old Kerala-born designer, who first put Ivanka Trump on the runway, is convicted of rape and a dozen other criminal charges, including having a sexual relationship with a minor.
“What I did was absolutely immoral, but not illegal,” Page Six quotes Anand Jon Alexander’s words to a former acquaintance. “I had a lot of sex, but it was not illegal. Everyone was over 17, except one girl who lied about her age.”
“This was about lifestyle,” Alexander told Page Six source. “The police saw a broken-skinned man having sex with white girls.”
According to the report, Jon Alexander will talk about dressing Janet Jackson and Mary J. Blige. He will also describe how he found Ivanka Trump when she was just 14 and became the first designer to put her on the runway.
“Ivanka did five shows for me. She’d take the subway to fittings,” he said.
Alexander was charged with preying on aspiring young models promising modeling careers and the allegations against him started surfacing in 2007.
He was arrested in March 2007 in Beverly Hills, California, but he pleaded not guilty to all charges. On November 13, 2008, Anand Jon was convicted on one count of rape of an adult woman; and multiple other charges including unlawful conduct and contributing to the delinquency of minors. He was scheduled to be sentenced on January 13, 2009.
Many were concerned about the miscarriage of justice in his case, but in July 2009 the judge denied a request for new trial. Anand Jon dismissed his attorneys before his sentencing as he suspected they were in collaboration with the prosecutors and asked for and was granted permission to represent himself for the sentencing phase of the proceedings.
Anand Jon was sentenced to 59 years to life on August 31, 2009, and has now been in jail for over 7 years. His family still hope the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will overturn his conviction.
By Richard Johnson June 4, 2017 | 9:24am
Fashion designer Anand Jon is writing a book about how he ended up in prison serving a 59-year sentence for rape and a dozen other criminal counts, including committing a lewd act on a child.
“What I did was absolutely immoral, but not illegal,” he recently told a former acquaintance. “I had a lot of sex, but it was not illegal. Everyone was over 17, except one girl who lied about her age.”
The India-born Jon, 40, preyed on aspiring models who hoped he would help their careers. But he said he was a victim of police racism.
“This was about lifestyle,” Jon told my source. “The police saw a brown-skinned man having sex with white girls.”
Jon will talk in the book about dressing Janet Jackson and Mary J. Blige, and how he met Ivanka Trump when she was 14 and became the first designer to put her on the runway.
“Ivanka did five shows for me. She’d take the subway to fittings,” Jon said.
Imprisoned over seven years, Jon and his wealthy family still hope the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will overturn his conviction.
A recent motion for discovery in Dallas federal court says, “The Los Angeles jury trial was riddled with the red flags of due process violations, jury tampering and intimidation, racism-xenophobia and many unresolved discovery issues.”
Was designer Anand Jon targeted for being Indian?
Rubin Joseph JULY 06, 2018 02:10 PM IST
In the fashion world, Anand Jon had scaled such a height that no Keralite could think of. He fell from there. Or, was he pushed? Though there were enough hints that he was trapped, why wasn’t he released from jail? He is still behind the bars in the US. Unable to find an answer, his sister and well-known fashion designer Sanjana was in New Delhi on Thursday to seek the release of her brother. Those who joined her was a BJP MP and even spiritual leaders.
They raised two major allegations: one, it was a trap against an Indian by those who were ruling the fashion world then, and second, racial discrimination.
Anand’s fate
Anand has been jailed for 59 years for sexually abusing aspiring models. But medical reports made it clear that Anand had not abused the girls. Lie-detector test also supported him. Apart from the cases in New York and Houston courts, the case in Dallas too has been rejected. The examinations carried out in the case were also in Anand’s favour. Now, only the cases in California are remaining. Even though the allegations of complainants have been proved to be fake, Anand has been in jail for the past 12 years.
Delhi gathering
Those who gathered in New Delhi seeking the release of Anand Jon included BJP MP Udit Raj, human rights activists and spiritual leaders. Udit Raj also sought the intervention of California governor in the issue and assured that it will be raised in the Parliament too. Those who gathered included Swami Padma Prakasha, Shibani Kashyap, Mahajan, Antony Raj, Shailesh Tewari, Baba Aziz Nizami, Nirmal Jain and Ankit Dey.
Sanjana breaks down
While speaking about Anand, globally renowned fashion designer, Sanjana became just a sister. She broke down several times. She expressed hope that the state and central governments will intervene in the matter. She alleged that despite the innocence of Anand has been proved, he is still in jail because he is the son of India and due to issues like racial discrimination.
Govt intervention?
Sanjana said that she had met foreign minister Sushma Swaraj five times to apprise her of the matter. She had approached the Kerala government too. During the UPA regime, she met Sonia Gandhi and submitted a complaint. Even then the state and central governments did nothing for Anand and it is very sad, she said. She added that she continues to have faith in the Indian administration.
Who was Anand?
Anand, who was a name to reckon with in the global fashion industry, belongs to Mallappally in Kottayam. After completing schooling in Kerala and Chennai, he left for the US on a special scholarship for studies and became a super celebrity. He was even selected among the 10 most attractive men in the world. Those
who used to wait for him, became super models. They included Paris Hilton and Jennifer Lopez. When Anand started getting Wall Street investments, he became a target of many. And then he was sent behind the bars. Right from the beginning there were allegations that the charged were forged so as to trap him.
6/14/2017
LOS ANGELES, CA -The disgraced fashion designer who first put Ivanka Trump on the runway is speaking out in a new book seven years after being locked up for rape and a dozen other criminal charges, including having a sexual relationship with a minor. Anand Jon Alexander, now 40, is writing a book in which he claims he was wrongly targeted and is now serving a 59-year sentence for rape. What I did as absolutely immoral, but not illegal,’ he told a former acquaintance, according to Page Six. ‘I had a lot of sex, but it was not illegal. Everyone was over 17, except one girl who lied about her age.’
Alexander was charged with preying on aspiring young models under the pretense that he would be able to help them launch their careers. When he was convicted, he accepted a deal and plead guilty to forcing a woman to perform oral sex in exchange for a promise of modeling work.
Initially, he was charged with preying on dozens of women, but the figure eventually dropped to three. Prosecutors said some of the victims were minors, and some were drugged when he forced himself on them.
However, in his new book, he claims he was a victim of police racism.
‘This was about lifestyle. The police saw a brown-skinned man having sex with white girls,’ he told a Page Six source. In the book, he discusses dressing stars such as Janet Jackson and Mary J Blige, and his friendship with Ivanka Trump. Alexander and Trump met when she was just 14, and he was the first designer to have her model his clothing on the catwalk. About the beginning of her career in fashion, Alexander said: ‘Ivanka did five shows for me. She’d take the subway to fittings.’ Alexander has now been in jail for over seven years, and his family hopes the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will overturn his conviction.
Born in India, Alexander, known professionally as Anand Jon, launched a fashion line in 1999 and built it into a high-flying career.
The wealthy family recently filed a motion for discovery in a Dallas federal court, which says: ‘The Los Angeles Jury Trial was riddled with the red flags of due process violations, jury tampering and intimidation, racism-xenophobia and many unresolved discovery issues.’ He was featured on Tyra Banks’ popular reality contest, worked with such celebrities as Paris Hilton and Mary J. Blige and was among 20 people profiled by Newsweek in 2006 as up-and-coming players in various industries.
Then sex assault allegations against Alexander began surfacing in 2007. He was convicted in Los Angeles the following year of sexually assaulting seven women and girls.
Dallas prosecutors move to dismiss all charges against Anand Jon. Recently a Press Conferance also organized at Press Club of India in Delhi Where Dr. Udit Raj MP(BJP), Princess Maria from Phillipinnes,Social Activist Parull Mahajaan came in support of Anand Jon. This Press Conferance is hosted by Dr.Sanjana Jon(Sister of Anand Jon). Delhi Chilli exclusively covered the press conferance with all the latest update. Read Below….
After indicting (June 2007) Anand Jon on three felony counts and dragging those charges for more than a decade, the Dallas District Attorney’s Office has now dismissed ALL charges in response to Anand Jon’s demand for immediate trial at the Dallas Court Room of the Honorable Judge Brandon Birmingham.
Anand Jon has suffered 12 years of a draconian 59 years to life prison sentence and continues to hold steadfast to his innocence. There was neither physical evidence (not a single “scratch” on anyone), nor were there any percipient witnesses to corroborate any criminal conduct. Additionally, Anand Jon passed a lie detector test to further prove his innocence. In April 2007, despite finding that Anand Jon had no history of violence, he was not a flight risk, and he was not a threat to anyone, Judge Elden Fox of the Beverly Hills’ court set Anand Jon’s bail at $1.3 million dollars, which was promptly paid. However, Beverly Hills Police Department (“BHPD”) re-arrested Anand Jon during a court hearing (Jun. 12, 2007) by convincing the Dallas Police to file these Dallas charges (the same claims that had already been investigated and rejected earlier in Dec. 2006) which in turn revoked Anand Jon’s California bail and crippled his defense.
Beverly Hills Police Department Det. George Elwell testified, and the L.A. prosecution assured the L.A. trial court, that they had “met their burden” and turned over everything and had run background searches on all prosecution witnesses wherein they found no criminal records or impeachment evidence whatsoever. However, at least five criminal convictions, multiple acts of moral turpitude, and impeachment involving the prosecution witnesses has since been confirmed to have existed during that time but was withheld from Anand Jon’s defense team and the trial jury. The Brady errors and subsequent prejudice is self-evident because the jury found Anand Jon “not guilty” and/or “hung” on those complainants for whom similar criminal records or impeachment were revealed to the jury. Despite providing substantial amounts of newly discovered and previously withheld evidence by the BHPD that pointed not just to Anand Jon’s factual innocence, but showed he was the victim of a conspiracy among scorned women and disgruntled business associates, the Dallas District Attorney moved to dismiss all charges against Anand Jon for “neutral” reasons without further justification. Dallas defense counsel Rajish Jose of the Beltz Law Firm noted that the Dallas prosecutor’s purported reasons to drop all three accusers and all charges are due to Mr. Alexander’s convictions in California and the “cost of transport” from California. Such excuses are absurd and if anything, an attempt to cover up the litany of transgressions by law enforcement that caused the conviction of an innocent man in the overlapping California case.
Under the Dallas prosecutor’s own reasoning, the Dallas cases should have been dismissed almost ten years ago when Anand Jon was convicted (Nov. 13, 2008); or at least, when Anand Jon was convicted (Aug. 31, 2009). Certainly, not after a decade and only upon Anand Jon’s independent demand for trial and at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses to all parties and tax payers. Not only has the Dallas prosecutor given statements in the media well after Anand Jon’s California convictions, but as recently as last year, arranged for “open discovery” and turned over Brady materials.1 Therefore, this dismissal appears to be a knee-jerk attempt to insulate the insidious joint investigation between the BHPD and other law enforcement agencies across the country. In fact, officers from the BHPD, after being caught red-handed in gross misconduct, (that would qualify for felony charges against the police & prosecutors under the new 2017 California Assembly Bill 1909 law signed by Jerry Brown and authored by Party Lopez of the 39th District, who is running for office), were supposed to be subpoenaed for a show cause hearing in Dallas.2 Additionally, attorney Corey Parker of the AmericanJusticeAlliance.org has filed an Amicus letter in support of Anand Jon’s writ of habeas corpus at the California Supreme Court highlighting the extraordinary racial & religiously biased overtones and communal inflammatory tactics employed by the L.A. prosecutors in getting the jury to convict this “foreigner” from India who “intertwined spirituality;”
“meditated…sat cross-legged on the floor;” “read foreign symbols [Hebrew] from right-to-left;” and targeted “white women,” despite the L.A. trial court’s ruling to “not delve into any religious, moral, or spiritual areas.”
The retroactive implications of these favorable change of circumstances upon getting relief in the California convictions is all the more profound because, after admitting the lack of any physical evidence or percipient witnesses to corroborate any criminal conduct, the L.A. prosecutors repeatedly relied upon a supposed “very rich history of sexual violence in other states” to accomplish the convictions. Incredibly, Anand Jon had not gone to trial at that point on any out-of-state charges whatsoever, much less been found “guilty” on any such allegations.
Help us bring Anand back, Sanjana Jon appeals to government
This story is from July 15, 2018 Riya Sharma | TNN | Updated: Jul 15, 2018, 12:27 IST
Last week, Bills Incorporations and All Indian Council of Human Rights Liberties & Justice organised a press conference to start a campaign to free celebrity fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander The Indian-origin fashion designer, who has been in custody for almost 12 years now, is serving a 59-year sentence in California for sexual assaults.
The Rise and Fall of Anand Jon
THE BEAUTIFUL GENERATION (2011) book by Prof. Thuy Linh Nguyen of New York University
FASHION, FREE TRADE,AND THE “RISE OF THE ASIAN DESIGNER"
- Newsweek
- LAWEEKLY
- Indian American designer Anand Jon Alexander to publish a book, says he is the victim of police racism
- Keynote Speaker Jefferey Deskovic To Discuss Wrongful Convictions Featuring the Anand Jon Case at Upcoming “Reforming the Prosecution System” Event In California
- Analysis: Was Wrongfully Convicted Fashion Designer a Victim of Racial Prejudice on the Part of Prosecutor?
- American Justice Alliance Becomes the 70th Sponsor For Vanguard’s Annual Event
- Innocent Man Freed From San Diego Prison After 33 Years
- Portrait of Mahatma Gandhi by Anand Jon featured at University of Southern California
- $41-million settlement in ‘Central Park Five’ case gets final approval
- When art meets design
- Keynote Speaker Jefferey Deskovic To Discuss Wrongful Convictions Featuring the Anand Jon Case at Upcoming “Reforming the Prosecution System” Event In California Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/4479733#ixzz63UNXEorq
- Analysis: Was Wrongfully Convicted Fashion Designer a Victim of Racial Prejudice on the Part of Prosecutor?
- Wrongful Convictions & Restorative Justice: What’s the Connection?
- Wrongly Convicted, They Had to Choose: Freedom or Restitution
- Legislature Passes Criminal Justice Reform Bills
- Vanguard Court Watch Podcast Episode 11 – Obie Anthony and Exonerated Nation
- “Exonerated Five” members implore Duke Law students to remember their case to avoid future injustices
- Frederick Douglass Escaped From Slavery To Freedom On This Day In 1838
- Designer Anand Jon First Put Ivanka on Runway
- AJ Support
- JUST THIS PAST WEEKEND, THE WHO’S WHO OF SOCIAL & JUSTICE ACTIVISM, ENTERTAINMENT, FASHION AND POLITICS CONVERGED IN MALIBU, CA FOR THE INTERNATIONAL INNOVATORS OF JUSTICE FORUM & DOCUMENTARY SERIES
- List Item
- Just this Past Weekend, the Who's Who of Social & Justice Activism, Entertainment, Fashion and Politics Converged in Malibu, CA for the International Innovators of Justice forum & Documentary Series
- പിഴവുകള് ചൂണ്ടിക്കാട്ടി ആനന്ദ് ജോണിന്റെ ജയില് മോചനത്തിനായി പ്രമുഖര്
- International Innovators Panel Takes on Case of Anand Jon, Others
- MALIBU, CA - NOVEMBER 04: Sanjana Jon speaks at the International Innovators Forum at the Fight for Social Justice and Human Rights on November 4, 2018 in Malibu, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for International Innovators of Justice/American Justice Alliance)