LAWYER: HEIR DOPED, RAPED WOMEN.

Byline: Grace Lee Staff Writer

VENTURA - Max Factor heir Andrew Luster used a date-rape drug to lure his victims into a sense of security and euphoria before raping three unconscious women and videotaping several of the encounters, a prosecutor told the jury Monday.

Senior prosecutor Maeve Fox said in her opening statement that Luster, 38, who lives in the beachside community of Mussel Shoals, ``preys on young, vulnerable women'' by drugging them with gamma hydroxy butyrate, a drug also known as ``Liquid X.''

Luster, who is charged with 87 counts, including rape, sexual battery and poisoning, faces life in prison if he is convicted. Luster has been free after posting $1 million bail and is allowed to leave his house from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fox showed the jury slides of frames taken from the videos and warned them that it is their responsibility to watch the sexually explicit tapes during the course of the trial.

``When you watch the tapes, don't let what you see on the tapes stun you into inertia,'' she told jurors.

Fox also displayed a transcribed interview of Luster in a slide presentation.

According to the transcript, Luster told authorities that if one of the alleged victims filed charges, she would ``look like a fool.''

``I'll get a top-notch lawyer and she'll be ripped apart,'' Luster said in the interview. ``I'm a well-known figure in the beach culture. I can't screw up. I have too many things going on. I'm not going to lose my money.''

Defense attorney Roger Jon Diamond decided to give his opening statement behind closed doors - out of the jury's presence - in order to ensure that his arguments do not introduce evidence or theories that Judge Ken Riley previously had ruled inadmissible. It was not clear whether Diamond will present an opening statement when the trial resumes today.

Judge Ken Riley ruled last week that videotapes of Luster and one of the alleged victims having consensual sex were inadmissible. Defense lawyers had contended that Luster was a producer of pornographic videos whose tapes recorded women only pretending to be unconscious.

The great-grandson of movie makeup mogul Max Factor was arrested after Ventura County sheriff's deputies raided his home in July 2000 in a search prompted by accusations of rape filed by a Santa Barbara woman known publicly as Carey Doe. Deputies found 17 videotapes and photographs of Luster having sex with apparently unconscious women.

Prosecutors alleged that in addition to the three woman he is charged with raping between 1996 and 2000, he assaulted many women who have not been identified.

The second woman Luster allegedly raped, identified as Tonja Doe, came forward after reading about the allegations in the newspapers. The third apparent victim, identified as Shawna Doe, recognized her own tattoo in photographs sheriff's deputies circulated seeking victims.

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Photo:

Max Factor heir Andrew Luster looks through papers before his trial began Monday.

Pool photo