Andrew Luster

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Andrew Luster

Andrew Stuart Luster (b. December 15, 1963) is an heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune who was convicted of a series of rapes in 2003.

Luster had spent much of his life living off a $3.1 million trust fund as he traveled and surfed at various beaches.

In 1996, 1997 and 2000, however, Luster gave three women GHB, a known date rape drug, and raped them while they were unconscious. Luster was brought to trial in 2002. Soon afterward, police officers found videotapes of Luster raping the women in question, including one tape labeled "Shauna GHBing."

On January 6, 2003, the trial court found the appellant had voluntarily absented himself from the trial and declared him a fugitive.

On January 21, 2003, Andrew Luster was convicted of 86 of the 87 counts of rape against him.

On February 18, 2003, the court sentenced Andrew Luster to 124 years in prison, in absentia while still absent from the court. Also, on February 18, 2003, the trial court found that on January 4, 2003 the appellant willfully absented himself from both the court and the state.

The California Court of Appeal refused the appeal his attorneys filed on his behalf [1], ruling that as a fugitive from justice, Luster had forfeited his right to appeal. The California Supreme Court [2] and the United States Supreme Court [3] later refused to disturb this ruling. FindLaw record of the Motion to Dismiss Appeal [4].

Luster found his way to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where he lived under an assumed name (David Carrera), surfing and partying. He was taken into custody by bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman, his son Leland Chapman, Tim Chapman, and two TV crewmen, in a noisy scuffle on June 18, 2003. Originally captured by the bounty hunter, Luster was taken into custody by Mexican authorities who then charged the bounty hunter with kidnapping. A search of Luster's room revealed more GHB ^{[citation needed]} as well as plans to rebuild his fortune ^{[citation needed]} and unspecified plans for "payback" against many of the participants in his trial. ^{[citation needed]} The next day, Luster was returned to the U.S., and was imprisoned.

After he vanished, a movie called A Date with Darkness: The Trial and Capture of Andrew Luster was made based on him and his victims. The film was supposed to end with a picture of the real Andrew Luster, asking the audience to notify authorities if they should see him. When Luster was finally captured, the film was still shooting. The ending was re-written to incorporate his capture.

On July 18, 2003 a website was created by Elizabeth Luster [5], as recorded by DNSStuff. The site claimed Luster's conviction was a miscarriage of justice.

The home page of this website contains a disclaimer which is in contradiction to what DNSStuff has listed as the registered owner. See below.

"Disclaimer: This web site is created by a group of concerned citizens for judicial fairness. All content (with the exception of family photographs and biography) are supplied by followers of the Andrew Luster case. None of the facts uncovered, conjecture, logic, nor observations, are supplied by anyone in the Luster, nor Factor family. No liability, nor responsibility is to be imposed, nor inferred to these families."