SANTA ANA, Calif. — A Newport Beach, California, surgeon and his girlfriend who drew international headlines after local prosecutors accused them of drugging and raping seven women will not face trial on any sexual assault-related charges, a judge ruled on Friday, July 7, effectively gutting a case that had already been drastically pared back to focus on only two alleged victims amid years of political controversy.
While lesser drug possession, gun and poisoning-related charges remain, Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Leversen on Friday morning ruled there isn’t enough evidence to support the allegations of drugging and assault with intent to commit a sexual offense that comprised the heart of the criminal case against Grant Robicheaux and Cerissa Riley and led to years of courtroom debate over whether the pair are “swingers” or predators.
Prosecutors argued that testimony showed two women — referred to in court proceedings by the pseudonyms Jane Doe 1 and 2 — met Robicheaux and Riley on separate occasions at Newport Beach nightspots, were quickly befriended by the couple who bought them drinks — and gave one of them cocaine — to get them intoxicated before they woke up later at Robicheaux’s Balboa Peninsula home in a state of undress.
