LOS ANGELES _ A judge denied the Orange County district attorney's request to dismiss sexual assault charges against a well-known Newport Beach doctor and his girlfriend Friday, continuing a legal saga that has been marred by a political battle between the county's current and former top prosecutor.
Grant Robicheaux, 39, and his girlfriend Cerissa Riley, 32, had been charged with multiple counts of sexual assault in 2018, after former District Attorney Tony Rackauckas accused the couple of using their good looks and charm to lure women home from local bars or festivals like Burning Man, before forcing them into sex acts.
But late last year, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer launched a review of the case after a prosecutor said there were "serious proof problems." The prosecutors who reviewed the evidence against Robicheaux and Riley later agreed there was "insufficient evidence to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt," Spitzer said earlier this year.
However, Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregory Jones rejected Spitzer's call for a dismissal Friday and said he had "concerns" about the district attorney's office's ability to prosecute the case after Spitzer's repeated critical comments of the investigation and decision to charge by his predecessor.
"I have concerns with the people being able to prosecute this by way of the Orange County District Attorney's office," he said. "It has been stated by Mr. Spitzer that Mr. Tony Rackauckas and his chief deputy manufactured the case."
Jones suggested the California Attorney General's Office should handle the case. Spitzer has yet to recuse his office from the matter.
Spitzer recommended all charges be dropped in February, but Jones said he wanted to conduct a careful review of the district attorney's request before taking any action. The case was set to return to court in early April, but the hearing was pushed back due to closures forced by the coronavirus.
Robicheaux, an orthopedic surgeon who gained some notoriety through appearances on a Bravo reality television show, and Riley were initially accused of luring two women home, drugging them and assaulting them at their posh Newport Beach home on separate occasions. As an investigation into the pair continued, prosecutors ultimately accused Robicheaux of assaulting seven different women and contended Riley was involved in five of those assaults.
The couple were charged with multiple felony counts including rape by drugs, oral copulation by anesthesia and assault with intent to commit sexual offenses. Rackauckas had said investigators found video evidence of the assaults that showed women who were "highly intoxicated beyond the ability to consent or resist."
But almost immediately, the case was stained by a bitter feud between Rackauckas, the county's entrenched longtime prosecutor, and Spitzer, a former county supervisor and assistant district attorney who was seeking to unseat him.
The day Rackauckas announced charges against Robicheaux and Riley, Spitzer held a news conference accusing Rackauckas of waiting to bring charges until a time when it might boost his reelection chances.
The first woman to make accusations against Robicheaux contacted Newport Beach police in October 2016, nearly two years before Rackauckas filed charges. Spitzer defeated Rackauckas in November 2018.
Rackauckas has defended his handling of the case, and accused Spitzer of playing politics in seeking a dismissal.
"Certainly, any prosecutor should think long and hard before dismissing such a case where multiple women have independently come forward and subjected themselves to the hard process of baring their souls to the authorities," the former district attorney said in a statement. "I just hope they're not being sold down the river for some twisted political motive."
