BDSM RTV MEDIA NEWS!!!!


15 october 2009


Top Court to Review S&M Sex Trafficking Case


Source: www.leagle.com - Leagle, Inc.- USA


At trial, the government presented evidence that in 1998, Glenn Marcus, who was living in New York at the time, met Jodi, the complaining witness, in an online chat room devoted to an alternative sexual lifestyle, known as bondage, dominance/discipline, submission/sadism, and masochism ("BDSM"). Marcus, with the help of two of his "slaves," Joanna and Celia, convinced Jodi to travel from her home in the Midwest to Joanna's apartment in Maryland, in order to meet Marcus in person, which she did in October 1998.


During this visit, Marcus whipped Jodi and carved the word "slave" on her stomach with a knife. Jodi returned to Joanna's apartment in Maryland for a second visit in November 1998.

After her second visit, Marcus convinced Jodi to move from the Midwest to Maryland, where she would live with Joanna. Jodi submitted to Marcus a petition, in which she referred to herself as "pooch," a name given to her by Marcus, and stated, among other things, "I am begging to serve you Sir, completely, with no limitations.... If I beg you for my release, Sir, please ignore these words." Despite this petition, Jodi testified that she believed she would be able to leave Marcus if she wanted to.

Jodi moved into Joanna's apartment in January 1999, and Marcus visited them in Maryland every one to two weeks. During these visits, Marcus engaged in BDSM activities with Jodi and Joanna, and sometimes other women. These activities included branding Jodi, requiring her to seek his permission before contacting her family, whipping and choking her during intercourse, photographing her for his website, "Subspace," and requiring her to post diary entries describing the activities on the website. The BDSM activity, along with the "punishments" for disobedience, increased in severity during this time, and Jodi testified that she became increasingly depressed.

At some point, Marcus instructed Jodi to convince her younger sister to travel to Maryland, and when she refused, Marcus told her that she would be severely punished. In October 1999, Marcus arrived in Maryland to inflict Jodi's punishment. He handcuffed her to a wall and left to take a nap, informing her that he would return to inflict the punishment. Jodi testified that at this point, she had a moment of clarity and decided to leave Marcus. She convinced Celia to help her off the wall, but Joanna awakened Marcus. Jodi told Marcus that she wanted to leave, and in response, Marcus inflicted upon Jodi the most severe punishment she had ever received up to this point. The incident was photographed for Marcus's website. Jodi testified that at this point, the relationship became non-consensual, as she felt "completely beaten down," "trapped," and "full of terror."

In November 1999, Joanna informed Marcus, by phone, that she wished to leave him. With Jodi listening on the line, Marcus threatened that he would show Joanna's pictures to her family and that he would harm members of her family if she were to leave him. Jodi testified that, as a result of having heard this conversation, she thought that Marcus would do the same to her were she to leave. ...