Santa Barbara Judge Curtails Sex Assault Case Against Producer David Guillod

Hollywood producer and talent manager David Guillod was ordered Monday by a Santa Barbara County judge to stand trial on eight counts of sexual assault following alleged attacks on actress Jessica Barth and an unnamed waitress in 2012 and 2018. If found guilty of the charges, which include rape, sodomy, and forced oral copulation, Guillod would face up to 12 years in prison.

Judge James Voysey, however, dismissed a number of other counts in the case related to four more Jane Doe accusers, who said they were raped by Guillod while intoxicated and unconscious between 2014 and 2020. Voysey questioned the credibility of the alleged victims and said he couldn’t find probable cause to allow the additional charges against Guillod to move forward. 

With respect to Jane Doe 1 ― Guillod’s 21-year-old former assistant who accused him of raping her following a night of heavy drinking at a work retreat in Buellton ― Voysey insisted the woman’s allegations weren’t believable and evidence showed the sex between them was consensual. He cited text messages and witness testimony that claimed Doe 1 had flirted and cuddled with Guillod after the reported assault. He also referenced her behavior leading up to the incident. 

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“When I hear an allegation of rape, I look at the facts,” Voysey said in court on Monday at the end of the case’s preliminary hearing. “She was highly intoxicated. She was dancing on the tables. She drank 10 glasses of wine. Her dress was hiked up so everybody could see her undergarments. Her behavior was outrageous. She was outrageously drunk.”

“But look what happened the next day,” Voysey continued. “If she felt something had been done to her, she would not have stayed there. She would have gone back to L.A. and said, ‘I’ve had enough of this. I’m done with this,’ and left. That would have been logical and consistent for somebody who felt they had been raped.”

The woman later sued Guillod and his company, Intellectual Artists Management, and reached a $60,000 settlement. The other three Jane Does, whose accusations Voysey also rejected, all claimed Guillod offered them wine laced with some type of drug before they passed out and were raped. Voysey said their subsequent text exchanges with Guillod didn’t accuse him of any wrongdoing.

Santa Barbara County Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Karapetian said her office “is going to evaluate the case in light of Judge Voysey’s rulings and decide how to move forward from here.” Options available to the department include refiling the case or asking the trial judge to review and potentially overturn Voysey’s decision. They could also take the matter to a grand jury.

Guillod, who was facing a possible life sentence before Voysey’s ruling, remains under house arrest in Los Angeles, and will return to court June 14.

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