Former fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander claims that he cannot afford New York criminal defense lawyers for his criminal trial.
The New York Daily News reports that Mr. Alexander, who once sold painted jeans for $700 each, has two court appointed, state paid New York criminal defense lawyers.
The prosecutors for his criminal trial moved to have Mr. Alexander's two defense lawyers removed from his case. Assistant District Attorney Maxine Rosenthal argued that, "the taxpayers of New York should not be paying for not only one but two lawyers."
Mr. Alexander claims that he has no funds because he has been in jail since 2007 and not working.
One of the two New York criminal defense lawyers handling the case stated that due to how "complicated" Mr. Alexander's case was, he would need two lawyers to handle his case. Each lawyer would be paid $75 an hour at the New York taxpayers' expense.
Mr. Alexander faces 49 counts. The New York Daily News reports that Mr. Alexander is accused of sexually assaulting 12 women (one of them was underage at the time of the alleged attack). Police believe that Mr. Alexander would find his alleged victims from online modeling sites. Police say that he would then promise them a photo shoot and while at a private location, he would rape or molest them.
The victims ranged in age from 15 to 26. Since the youngest alleged victim was 15, one of his charges against the designer is promoting a sexual performance by a child. For all of the sexual assault crimes, he could face an additional 25 years in prison. He had to be extradited from California for the trial because he is already serving 59 years to life for rape in that state.
Related Resources:
- Designer Anand Jon Faces New Sex Charges in NYC (AP)
- Finding Free Legal Services (FindLaw)
- New York City Pro Bono Groups (The New York Criminal Law Blog)
- New York Criminal Defense Lawyers (FindLaw)
