L.A. Daily has obtained a copy of the prosecution motion to be filed Monday, July 6, arguing against the granting of a new trial for fashion designer Anand Jon. The motion dismisses defense attorneys' claims that the spurned affections of one juror by Jon's sister, Sanjana, could have resulted in that juror avenging himself by voting to convict Anand. The designer was found guilty of 15 charges of sexual assault last November, and a single count of rape. Since then sentencing has been postponed following the disclosure that Juror No. 12, Alvin Dymally, had contact with Sanjana both during and after the trial. It was this contact that defense attorneys seized upon to file for a new trial.

In the months following the verdicts, Judge David Wesley's courtroom has become an opera bouffe examining the ham-fisted tactics of D.A. investigators who thwarted a “sting” meeting between Dymally and Sanjana, and filled with Dymally's grating recitative explaining his rogue behavior (before he discovered the Fifth Amendment), Sanjana's equally frail accounts of her motives for not alerting anyone to Dymally's overtures, and the emergence of a graphically salacious online flyer attacking prosecution witnesses as “prostitutes.”

The D.A.'s motion, which is signed by trial co-prosecutor Frances

Young, denies that the single surreptitious recording of Dymally made

by Sanjana proves the maverick juror was offering to influence other

jury members in Anand's favor during deliberations. The existence of

that recording, dramatically revealed in May by defense attorney

Leonard Levine during his interrogation of Dymally, seemed to tilt the

case's momentum once more toward the defense.

“.

. . this was merely flirtatious communication evidenced by Dymally's

words to Sanjana: 'I love your eyes' and 'I think you're sexy.'

However, the

audio quality was so poor (the recording was made on a MP3 player that

was held by Sanjana to the receiver of an outdoor pay phone) that it

was sent to an FBI lab to be cleaned up. That process has apparently

been completed.

“The tape fails to corroborate Sanjana's

assertions,” the motion says, referring to the sister's claims that

Dymally had reached out to her with promises to “help” her brother.  “.

. . this was merely flirtatious communication evidenced by Dymally's

words to Sanjana: 'I love your eyes' and 'I think you're sexy.''”

The prosecution also notes that the two calls involving Dymally and Sanjana that occurred before the trial ended were made by Sanjana to Dymally and that “a flurry of phone calls” between the two only occurred after the verdict.

The

motion concludes by suggesting prosecutors would have a difficult time

getting many of its young female accusers to come back for

a second trial:

“Their emails, text messages, phone records,

My Space web pages and private photographs were used to denigrate them .

. . it would be a grave mistake to assume these victims would be

willing to participate in another trial.”

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