Criminal
Aug. 10, 2002
Woman Prevails in Date-Rape-Drug Lawsuit
SANTA BARBARA - She was devastated when a judge threw out criminal charges against two of the men she claimed had drugged and raped her. But the Swedish nanny known only as Anna Doe now is savoring a measure of satisfaction after a unanimous Santa Barbara jury awarded her $675,000 in damages against the two men and another who allegedly participated in a January 2000 assault.
But the Swedish nanny known only as Anna Doe now is savoring a measure of satisfaction after a unanimous Santa Barbara jury awarded her $675,000 in damages against the two men and another who allegedly participated in a January 2000 assault.
The key evidence was photographs taken by one defendant that apparently showed the plaintiff unconscious in the back seat of a car while another man was having sex with her. The woman herself had no recollection of being assaulted.
"It's a vindication," her attorney, Tyrone J. Maho, said. "The fact that the one judge decided there was not enough evidence [to support criminal charges] ... really made it significant for her."
Maho believes the judgment, which included compensatory and punitive damages, is one of the first of its kind in a personal injury case that involved gamma-hydroxybutyrate, a so-called date-rape drug. He contended that his client's symptoms, including amnesia, were consistent with GHB intoxication.
After a two-week trial, the Santa Barbara County Superior Court jury last week found David Knight-Dow, 31, and Jameel Kawaja, 29, liable for sexual battery and battery, and the photographer - Casey Sullivan, 29 - liable for invasion of privacy.
The award of $300,000 in compensatory and $375,000 in punitive damages was split equally between the three defendants, two of whom represented themselves. Doe v. Kawaja, 1038120 (Santa Barbara Super. Ct., filed Jan. 11, 2001).
The defendants claimed that only Knight-Dow had sex with the woman and that it was consensual. They also denied giving her any drugs. "I personally don't believe I should even be here," Kawaja told the jury.
But Maho of Snyder, Strozier, Maho & Tomlinson in Santa Barbara said, "For the jury, the pictures didn't lie ... There was nothing that suggested normal sexual relations."
Deputy District Attorney Joyce Dudley, who prosecuted the criminal case against Knight-Dow and Sullivan, hopes the civil verdict will encourage other women who believe they were victims of rape by intoxication to come forward.
"I think all victims should be empowered by this," Dudley said.
In similar litigation in neighboring Ventura County, two women have sued Max Factor heir Andrew Luster for allegedly sedating them with GHB and having sex with them. Those cases are stayed pending the outcome of Luster's criminal trial.
Anna Doe, 25, said she remembered going to the Wildcat Lounge in Santa Barbara on Jan. 15, 2000, where she met Sullivan and Kawaja, who were both students at the Brooks Institute of Photography. Her next memory was of waking up in Knight-Dow's bedroom, naked from the waist down.
All three men were arrested in April 2000 after Sullivan showed his photographs to the woman's ex-boyfriend. Police recovered the photos during a search of Sullivan's home.
Prosecutors brought charges of rape by intoxication only against Knight-Dow and Sullivan - and Superior Court Judge Joseph L. Lodge dismissed those after a preliminary hearing in July 2000. The two men faced up to eight years in prison if convicted.
According to Dudley, Lodge indicated that the photographs were insufficient to establish probable cause. "He said [the woman] could be in a state of rapture and was not necessarily unconscious," she recalled.
Dudley also noted, "There was no biological or physical evidence that she had GHB in her system."
The woman proceeded with a civil suit, alleging that the defendants put GHB in her drink at the Wildcat Lounge "for the purpose of rendering her unconscious so that they and others could rape plaintiff."
In a deposition, Knight-Dow said that Kawaja initially tried to have sex with the woman. Kawaja, he testified, then persuaded him to come to the car, telling him, "This girl is totally horny ... She wants you, man."
The suit accused Sullivan of invading the woman's privacy by taking unauthorized photographs of her.
During the trial before Judge Thomas P. Anderle, Maho introduced evidence that the defendants had access to and used GHB. A Santa Barbara police detective, who has investigated numerous GHB-related cases, also testified about how the drug might have caused the plaintiff's physical symptoms.
Most importantly, the jury saw enlargements of the photographs that showed Knight-Dow having sex with the plaintiff, whose eyes were closed and her glasses askew.
"[GHB is] the perfect date-rape drug," Maho said in an interview, pointing to its amnesiac effects. "It's ideal for a predator who wants to victimize someone and get away with it. If it had not been for the pictures, [these defendants] would have gotten away with it."
Sullivan's attorney, Ladd Bedford, did not respond to a request for comment; Kawaja and Knight-Dow could not be reached for comment.
Both Mayo and Dudley praised the woman, who still works for a family in Santa Barbara, for her "courage" in pursuing the case. On the witness stand, Mayo noted, she had to face cross-examination by both Kawaja and Knight-Dow.
"The fact that she was able to gather the courage to go to the civil arena makes me feel good about the justice system," Dudley said.
The woman may have trouble collecting the damages award. Sullivan filed a bankruptcy petition during the trial, and Kawaja has said he will follow suit. But Mayo noted that judgments based on intentional torts are not dischargeable in the bankruptcy courts.
For the Record A story published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal on August 9, 2002 incorrectly described Andrew Luster as a "Max Factor heir." According to Max Factor III, grandson of Max Factor, Luster is one of 32 great-children of Max Factor, none of whom are direct heirs to his estate. Luster confirmed he is not an heir of Max Factor.
The Daily Journal regrets the error.
Jim Adamekn
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