Snapper denies Diaz charges
A photographer has denied trying to use photos of Charlie’s Angels star Cameron Diaz to extort €2.9m from the actress.
John Rutter, 41, faces up to six years in prison if convicted of attempted extortion, grand theft, perjury and forgery. He entered his plea during a brief appearance in Los Angeles Superior Court last night.
Commissioner Jeffrey Harkavy scheduled a September 10 preliminary hearing.
Rutter was arrested on August 12 and held in lieu of €239,000 bail. Harkavy has said that if Rutter posts bail, he may not have any contact with Diaz.
Outside the court, Rutter’s lawyer disputed a report the photos included topless shots of Diaz.
“You’ll be surprised how tame some of these shots are,” said John Powers.
Harkavy granted Powers’ request to remove cameras from the courtroom. Powers argued that appearing in prison garb on television would hurt Rutter’s image and his ability to get a fair trial.
Lawyers for Diaz, who will be 31 tomorrow, have refused to describe the photos or discuss the contents of a videotape taken from Rutter’s flat. Rutter told the syndicated news programme Inside Edition in mid-July that he took the photographs well before Diaz’s big break in the 1994 film The Mask.
District attorney’s spokesman Joseph Scott refused to comment on the case.
Earlier this month, a judge ordered the photographs and the videotape of Diaz sealed and set a September 12 hearing in Superior Court on her request for an injunction against Rutter.
Rutter has said that he contacted Diaz’s lawyers to offer them first right of refusal for the photographs before trying to sell them to media outlets. Soon after he contacted them, he said, his flat was raided by authorities and the photos seized.
A publicist for Diaz said the actress did not sign a photo release at the private modelling session and a release produced by Rutter was a forgery.
