Photographer Who Blackmailed Diaz For Topless Pictures Loses Court Appeal
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
John Rutter, the photographer who clicked topless photos of Cameron Diaz when she was 19 and tried to force her into buying them back for $3.5 million after she became a well known actress, lost an appeal Monday challenging his conviction.
In 2005, Rutter was convicted of forgery, attempted grand theft and perjury relating to the topless photos and is presently in jail for nearly a four-year sentence.
A three-justice panel from the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled out Rutter's demands that the conviction should not be executed since it was based on errors in his trial.
The AP reports that at the time when the topless pictures were taken, Diaz was a 19-year-old aspiring model in 1992. In some of the pictures, she was shot wearing leather boots and fishnet stockings. The pictures that were published in European magazines showed her wearing a top and black vest.
However, the topless photos have never been published, and a judge has prohibited Rutter from releasing either them or a video of the shoot.
During his two-week trial, the photographer confessed that he gave Diaz two days to pay him $3.5 million for the photos or else he would sell them to a list of buyers in the wake of a campaign timed to coincide with the 2003 release of her film "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle."
Labels: Cameron Diaz
Posted by becausetheysuck
at 1:36 PM
PERMALINK
John Rutter, the photographer who clicked topless photos of Cameron Diaz when she was 19 and tried to force her into buying them back for $3.5 million after she became a well known actress, lost an appeal Monday challenging his conviction.