Anand Jon: Crucifying the Defendant before Trial

Los Angeles, CA / TEN-Media


The Anand Jon injustice continues. For those of you catching up late, Anand Jon is a celebrity fashion designer. It is alleged that he was inappropriate with some of the models that essentially wanted to "ride his coattails to success [sic] ( New York Times, April 15 2007). His defense team asserts that they are trumped up charges made by "wanna-be's" that are craving publicity, fame and potentially fortune. That may be true as one of the complainants in the case went on television the same day ( May 16, 2007) that the prosecutor relayed in court that "no sexual assault victim craves publicity". So much for that argument. Apparently the DDA has never worked in the entertainment industry (or watched television).

What motivates these young women? There have been many exposes about today's progressive and aggressive culture. (Remember the movies Kids, Cruel Intentions and recently, John Tucker Must Die and even Ugly Betty. All these pieces contained manipulation in today's youth). Look at Myspace. On these networking websites, these teens and young adults try to outdo each other through sex, drugs, violence, etc. Innocence in today's youth has been replaced with manipulation, conniving and blackmail. Lying has gone beyond cheating on the math quiz and has moved to affecting real lives in a real world with real consequences.

This trial has been an example of how the one-sided the criminal legal process is. As us journalists sit in the courtroom and watch this process we are reminded that the beginning of any criminal court proceeding leans toward the prosecution. They call the shots at the start of the process. The defense basically watches from the sidelines, interjecting occasionally. Many of us were looking forward to the preliminary hearing. That is where the defense team would have had the opportunity to cross examine the prosecution's witnesses. However, curiously, the DA's office chose to skip that part of the process. Why? Many of the attorneys contacted mentioned several words when pressed to react to this situation including unethical, suspicious and unscrupulous. Why? "…because it taints the process," said one criminal defense attorney. "a good DA will use the prelim process to strengthen their case. They knock out the weak counts and proceed with strongest. If they skip that process they are worried that the entire case may get dismissed." [which was witnessed firsthand on Sept 26 in another case in front of the same court.] "They are essentially throwing as much at the wall as they can, hoping that something will stick."

Rushing to grand jury produces an indictment. The court proceeding is referred to as the arraignment. One defense attorney stated that the process is so one-sided that "you can indict a ham sandwich". Why? Because there is no cross examination by the defense. The prosecution parades their witnesses in a closed door, secret proceeding in front of the "grand jury" consisting of 23 total. The decision (which is characteristically 99.9% in favour of continuing to the trial) is sealed and released at a later date, thus keeping the defense in the dark.

In this case the prosecution has added 11 new counts (not 57 as TMZ.com, Oct 4, 2007, reported – tmz.com also misrepresented much of what happened in court in that story and sensationalized the balance). Some of these counts are from 2001 and many from the same complainant. What is questionable about this is that only one girl came forward originally to accuse the designer. The rest jumped on the bandwagon after. (Why? See above) That first accuser, according to TMZ, woke up late, took a shower, tried on the designer's clothes, wanted to go to lunch, etc. there were at least 4 witnesses to this, one that they interviewed. A simple call to a rape center or hotline will tell you that this is not the reaction that a rape victim has the next morning. She wants the hell out, not "…good morning, honey, what do you want to do today?"

Referring to the other counts, there are complainants with several identical allegations over a period of time. So are we to believe that if someone is assaulted they continue to be assaulted on different days at different times against their will, if it ever happened at all?

The prosecution would like us to believe that there are now 59 counts meaning 59 individual instances of alleged inappropriateness. And 20 alleged victims? However, when you look closer, you see that many of them are duplicated. (In fact, the prosecution pushed many of the girls to file in Dallas, as stated in the NY Times article referenced above. This was apparently done to increase bail elsewhere as the court has consistently stated that the bail from the Beverly Hills court would not be increased. The court also stated on the record that the defendant is not a flight risk, not a danger to society, and should be allowed to competently defend himself from the outside.)

The DDA, in an apparent "act of desperation" (again, the "throwing everything against the wall" theory or piling on charges so that the case looks bleak - to the defendant, the media and to the public) added more counts / charges from 2001. Are we expected to believe that all of this happened in different jurisdictions for years, without a single complaint filed? What about friends, family or counselors? If these alleged allegations apparently began in 2001, does it seem likely that no one ever complained?

Are we to believe that all these girls were assaulted by a man who lists his address on his website? And invites people into his living and working space? And lives 5 blocks away from the Beverly Hills police station?

Are we to believe that none of these complainants knew how to dial 911? Or knock on a neighbor's door? It would seem that they didn't need to because no crime was committed.

We are smarter then this. We have to be. Stop being spoon-fed. Start questioning. Look at it logically and objectively. I invite everyone out there to do there own due diligence and investigative probing. Don't take things at face value.

We've all watched enough television to realize that reality reflects television just as television reflects reality. I believe that it's ingrained in the minds of today's youngsters. They forget that there is a reality that is a consequence of one's actions. Instead of crucifying a person in the press, media, publications, etc. we should support the truth and hold the prosecution to the highest order of integrity.

There have been too many people in the system that has been proven innocent too late (mostly due to DNA evidence. An innocent man spending one day incarcerated should not be tolerated ( i.e. the Duke Rape case).) In this case, there is something suspicious going on and it is our job as journalists to search for the truth and report it objectively.

All of us know Anand has been framed. He is to undergo trial for crimes he never committed. Being an Indian citizen entangled in a hostile system , helpless, and only two women, his mother and sister, who are leaving no stone unturned in a tremendous effort to save him, the government and people of India should intercede to ensure that Anand's case is re-investigated. There are doubts that the entire case is a conspiracy to destroy an Indian designer who was into big times in US of America. Racial discrimination is also evident in this episode. The case has to be re-investigated in the light of these aspects to clear all suspicion and to ensure that Anand gets justice.

To remain silent now is to give our assent to tyranny, brutality, untruth and miscarriage of justice. As citizens of India, we should persude our Government to act and also remind the Government and people of USA that the freedom and democratic values they proclaim to the world are at stake in this matter.

Let us discuss between us what we can and must do in this matter. Time is running out and Anand, his mother and his sister need all the support, help and succour we can offer.
One of the biggest fashion designer in NEw YORK ... worked his ass out to Reach thr , minted money , made millions , but today 45 cases against him ... just because he is an indian who made big out there ..... well well well 15 unknown woman coming up and puttin these shitty allegations on him and amercian government is so dumb that they cannot figure out that where were all these woman for 5 years , how can they even register such case .... well all you people reading this might be wondering how come i am writing all this because i know ANand bhaiya personally and the only way to get him out of this is all of us being together for him when he needs us the most ................. tHE choICE iS uP tO u , as i say there is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path - GAURAV ANIRUDH GARG