Designer Anand Jon sentenced to 59 years in jail

Indian-American fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander was on Tuesday sentenced to a minimum of 59 years in prison by a Los Angeles court 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 judgment, saying there were no new grounds for granting such a motion.

Jon, 35, who was acting as his own attorney, showed no reaction as the Judge said he should be incarcerated for 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 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.

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 provide 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 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 -- a girl who was naive and had the belief that all people were good. And you took that to your advantage," the now 17-year-old girl said.

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.