Indian designer Anand Jon sentenced for 59 years in prison

Celebrity Indian-American fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander was today sentenced to a minimum of 59 years in prison by a court here for preying upon seven young aspiring models as young as 14 and sexually assaulting them.

Rejecting Jon's motions for a fresh trial, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Wesley announced the judgement, saying there were no new grounds for granting such a motion.

35-year-old Jon, who was acting as his own attorney, showed no reaction as the Judge said he should be incarcerated as long as possible for preying upon young girls and women.

Jon stared ahead blankly as Judge Wesley handed down the hefty sentence and his victims wept in the jury box.
 
He was convicted in November of 16 counts including including rape, sexual battery and performing lewd acts on a child. Jon was found not guilty of four felonies, and jurors could not reach a verdict on three counts.
 
"Jon has showed no remorse for his actions," Wesley said. Jon also faces similar charges in New York and Texas where he has been indicted.

Judge Wesley said Jon must serve 14 years in state prison -- before he begins to serve a 45-year-to-life sentence. He was denied bail while he prepares his appeal. Soon thereafter Jon was immediately remanded to the custody of the state Department of Corrections.
 
The designer has been featured on the television show America's Next Top Model and worked with such celebrities as Paris Hilton and Mary J Blige.

Earlier, Jon used most part of his defence to attack juror Alvin Dymally, who had reached out to his sister Sanjana, in an apparent attempt to woo her or to offer his assistance in influencing jury deliberations in his favour.

Jon called Dymally a "poisoned apple" and a "renegade, runaway juror" who possibly wrecked his chances for freedom. He also blasted investigators, saying they had done a poor job and did not provided all the evidence to him.
 
Kerala-born Jon presented a lengthy argument saying he should get a new trial because of juror and prosecutorial misconduct, and inadequate defence by his former attorneys.
 
At one point in the case, Jon called his mother Shashi Abraham to the stand. Appearing as a witness, she told the court how Dymally had made casual; passing contact with her during the trial at one point reassuring her that Jon was innocent and he would be set free.

"Under Young's cross-examination, Abraham said she did not alert authorities early on about the contact because she was afraid," reported Steven Mikulan on LA Weekly Blog, who was present inside the court proceedings.
 
Mikulan wrote Jon's speeches, except for one detour into tears, were delivered in a loud, clear voice.
 
"I'm not perfect, but I'm not guilty," Jon, who was dressed in a dark suite with his long black hair tied in a ponytail, was quoted as saying.

A bevy of beautiful women who said Jon sexually assaulted them filled the jury box. Some of them cried as the sentence was read by the Judge.

"I was 14. You took my adolescence, my trust, my dream and completely manipulated them for your sexual desires," one of the women was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times.

"It sickens me that a grown man can do such a thing to a girl," the now 17-year-old girl said. "A girl who was naive and had the belief that all people were good. And you took that to your advantage."
 
Prosecutors said the crimes started in 2001 when Jon set up a fashion design business through which he lured would-be models to Los Angeles. The police got involved in March 2007 after a woman said she was sexually assaulted at his Beverly Hills apartment.

Jon graduated from the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York and launched a fashion line in 1999. He was selected by Newsweek magazine as one of the world's most successful South Asians in 2004.