Canadian Press
Thursday, July 03, 2003
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) - An appellate court upheld a ruling that convicted rapist Andrew Luster has no right to appeal his guilty verdicts because he jumped bail and fled to Mexico during a break in his trial.
"By his flight to a foreign country, the inference is compelling that, but for his capture, he would be a fugitive to this day," Justice Kenneth Yegan wrote for the 2nd District Court of Appeals in its ruling Wednesday.
Luster, a great-grandson of cosmetics legend Max Factor, was convicted in absentia in January of drugging and raping women in his Ventura County home.
His lawyer appealed the conviction, but Luster was still a fugitive, and the appeal was dismissed June 10 on the grounds that Luster had forfeited his right to appeal by jumping bail. The attorney appealed that ruling after Luster was captured June 18 in Puerto Vallarta.
Luster is serving his sentence in a California prison.
The bounty hunter who caught him is meanwhile facing Mexican charges of "deprivation of liberty," similar to kidnapping without requesting a ransom. The charge carries a maximum of four years in prison.
The bounty hunter, Duane Chapman, spoke to reporters Wednesday in Los Angeles. He said he didn't think he broke any laws and he expects to be exonerated. He said he feared Luster, spotted in a disco, was preying on women in Puerto Vallarta.
"My brother came and said, 'He's in the club right now and the flashing lights are on him and the girls are 17 years old walking around," Chapman said. "We had to protect everyone, we thought."
© Copyright 2003 The Canadian Press