Dominatrix Defense

[asterroc]

This one's thorny. No pun intended, really.

Prosecution says an MA dominatrix bound and beat her client until he died of a heart attack, failed to call 911, and later confessed to chopping up and disposing of his body. Defense says there is no body, no blood, no physical evidence that the client ever died rather than simply absconding for elsewhere, and that the dominatrix's confession was coerced, off the record, and wasn't taped or transcribed. Jury deliberations started today, continue Monday.

To me, it should be an open-and-shut-case considering that there's zero evidence, let alone "beyond reasonable doubt." However the public's view of BDSM, and the prosecuting attorney's flamboyant re-enactment may taint the jury, even in Massachusetts.

(And bizarrely, as I spell-checked this entry, I realized that every misspelling in it was done the British way. Too much BBC for me!)

Comments

[sammka.livejournal.com]

From working in trial law I'd say that dramatic demonstrations actually don't sway juries that often. Juries apparently don't like things looking "staged" or theatric. I wonder how old and experienced that DA was. It sounds like it was a desperate last try to win them over, and hopefully a jury would notice that.

Also, Boston??? Maybe I'm biased by the people I know in Boston but it seems like a city that's sort of seen it all.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Well, technically it's Dedham, a suburb of Boston. I'm not sure what type of suburb they are, though the others that I know of are generally ritzy. Boston's not quite New York in terms of "seen it all," but it's got its similarities.