CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES
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A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge on Monday rejected defense efforts to remove the district attorney’s office from the case of a Beverly Hills fashion designer who was convicted last year of rape and sexual assault.
Lawyers for Anand Jon Alexander accused prosecutors of trying to sabotage their investigation of a juror who allegedly contacted the designer’s sister during and after the trial.
District attorneys’ investigators intercepted the juror and interviewed him Jan. 7 just before he arrived for a meeting with the defendant’s sister, who was wearing a hidden recording device provided by a defense investigator.
Judge David S. Wesley said he disagreed with the district attorney’s actions but did not find that they merited removing the entire office or the two prosecutors who tried the case.
“There was no law broken, there was no misconduct, there was no violation of a court order,” Wesley said.
Defense attorneys are expected to raise the juror’s alleged contact with Sanjana Alexander during a May 5 hearing on whether a new trial should be granted.
-- Jack Leonard
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