NEW YORK — A man was convicted Monday of sexually abusing a woman he photographed for his sadomasochism Web site, but was cleared of a charge that the site was obscene.
A jury deliberated seven days before finding Glenn Marcus, 53, guilty of sex trafficking and forced labor. Marcus, whom the tabloids dubbed an “S&M Svengali,” was acquitted of obscenity.
Marcus, who remains free on $1 million bail, declined to speak to reporters after the verdict was announced in Brooklyn federal court. Prosecutors said he faces 30 years to life in prison; no sentencing date was set.
Defense attorney Maurice Sercarz said he would appeal.
The defense had argued Marcus and the victim had a “contract” to engage in a master-slave relationship that, while potentially offensive to the general public, was consensual and even pleasurable to the participants.
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Using graphic photos of the bound and beaten victim, prosecutor Pam Chen argued that Marcus crossed the boundaries of both civilized society and the S&M community by holding her against her will.
Under the Bush administration, at least 52 people or businesses have been convicted of violating federal obscenity statutes, and more than a dozen indictments are pending, federal officials said. By comparison, there were four such prosecutions during the eight years of the Clinton administration, they said.
From amny.com: A North Woodmere man dubbed a “god” of the sado-masochism world was convicted by a Brooklyn federal jury of sex trafficking and forced labor charges but acquitted of obscenity.
Glenn Marcus, 53, showed little reaction as the jury found him guilty after seven days of deliberation of charges that are often seen in immigrant human trafficking cases. The jury put him at risk for a stiffer penalty when it found that he committed aggravated sexual abuse while committing the forced labor.
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“I am very disappointed at the verdict,” defense attorney Maurice Sercaze of Manhattan told reporters outside the courtroom. “Yet at the same time I am very impressed by the diligence of the jury.”
Despite a prosecution request that Marcus be immediately jailed because of the seriousness of the offense, Judge Allyne Ross allowed Marcus to remain free on a $ 1 million bail secured by his family’s home in North Woodmere. Ross also barred Marcus from having access to the Internet.
The jury plowed through evidence that included 4,000 pages from Marcus’s Web site on BDSM — short for bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism — which included pictures of women bound to trees, blindfolded and with pins in their breasts. But in the end, the jurors didn’t believe the images were obscene under federal law.
Key evidence against Marcus was the testimony of a woman identified in court only by the name “Jody.” She testified that while she willingly entered into a relationship with Marcus to be his slave, Marcus forced her out of fear to work on his Web site and stay within his stable of women.
Prosecutors said in court that Marcus acted like a “god” in the sexual world he inhabited.
The defense tried to counter that evidence by showing that Jody kept seeing Marcus and went on camping trips with him for over a year after she claimed she was sexually abused.
Sercarze said that federal prosecutors tried to use the 2000 human trafficking law in a case that should have been handled by state criminal statutes. Sercarze said the trafficking laws are meant to deal with situations involving immigrants and that he would be challenging the government’s use of the statute for what began as consensual sex acts.
The maximum penalty is life in prison for the sex trafficking and forced labor charges. No sentencing date was set.