BDSM RTV MEDIA NEWS!!!!



08 nov 2010




Mistrial declared in domestic assault case involving sexual bondage, discipline
An Oklahoma County judge declares a mistrial in a sex fetish enthusiast's domestic abuse case after dismissing a juror who appeared to be drunk. The judge had the juror arrested. Prosecutors plan to retry the case.


Source: newsok.com  - NewsOK - USA


USA- OKLAHOMA- Prosecutors vowed Friday to retry an Oklahoma City sex fetish "master” after his domestic abuse case ended in a mistrial because of juror misconduct.


The retrial for Richard B. Wise, 43, was set for Feb. 28 or April 18. The carpenter will remain in the Oklahoma County jail.

District Judge Ray C. Elliott on Friday morning declared the mistrial after sheriff's deputies reported a juror was drunk and possibly high on drugs. Deputies had picked up the juror at an Oklahoma City residence after the juror failed to show up for the trial Friday morning.

The judge removed the juror, Marvin Brown Jr., 27, from the jury and then had him arrested inside the courthouse. Brown faces a contempt of court hearing Monday morning.

The unusual trial gave the jury an inside look at the so-called BDSM lifestyle. BDSM is short for bondage and discipline, dominance and submission and sadomasochism. "Bizarre,” one juror, Jeremy Neal, said of the testimony.

"It was unexpected. I never heard of that kind of thing,” said Neal, of Oklahoma City. "When you look at him, he looks like a normal person.”
District Attorney David Prater decided to handle the case personally. He said he will prosecute Wise again on all three counts - a felony kidnapping count, a felony domestic abuse count and a misdemeanor domestic abuse count.

"This isn't about BDSM. This is about a guy who likes to hurt women,” Prater told The Oklahoman.

The 11 remaining jurors agreed Wise was guilty of the domestic abuse counts but were split on the kidnapping count, several jurors told The Oklahoman.

Jurors discussed the case informally in the jury room after the judge declared the mistrial.

Girlfriend said she made up accusationsWise, who calls himself "Lord Wraith,” is accused of attacking his girlfriend the morning of Feb. 17 because she decided to leave him.

The girlfriend, Nanette "Gina” Larsen, 36, had moved in with him in November 2009 after they met online at a fetish website. She is married and from Utah.

Wise and Larsen signed a contract last year designating him master and her slave. She has tattooed on her lower back, "Forever & Always Property Of Lord Wraith,” according to evidence introduced in the trial.

The 12 jurors were to have begun deliberations Friday after hearing closing arguments. If he'd been convicted of all three counts, Wise could have been sentenced to up to 31 years in custody.

Wise could have opted to have the 11 remaining jurors deliberate his case, but he decided not to. The judge then declared the mistrial. The judge had not picked an alternate juror, who could have filled in for Brown.
The judge said he typically does not use alternate jurors in his trials to save money and time.

"We are financially strapped like you wouldn't believe,” the judge explained to the jury after declaring the mistrial. "We have one paper shredder in this building. It's broken. We don't have the money to get it fixed.”

The judge explained he also didn't pick an alternate because he had expected Wise's trial to be relatively short.

Prosecutors went forward with their case even though Larsen told jurors she had made up her accusations.

She had told friends, police and an emergency room doctor in February that he handcuffed, choked and beat her against her will at his home Feb. 17. She said she packed up after he freed her and then moved a few days later back to Utah.

She has since reconciled with Wise and lives with him again. She testified Wednesday that Wise actually did nothing to her Feb. 17 except hit her in the eye accidentally during a bedroom argument.

She said the other injuries photographed by police at the hospital came from consensual rough sex on a different day and a fall Feb. 6.

Prosecutors allege Wise beat her Feb. 17 when she decided to end the relationship. They alleged he did the same thing to another girlfriend in 2002.

Larsen, whose BDSM name is "White-Lilly,” had said in February she was upset because she caught Wise having sex with another woman in a nightclub parking lot.

Wise told jurors Thursday he had not attacked his girlfriend Feb. 17. He also denied cheating on her. He said she was drunk and slept after he accidentally gave her a black eye with his elbow.

Wise had been free on bail before trial.

The judge revoked his bail Thursday because of his misconduct during a break in testimony.

Prosecutors listed Wise's middle name as Bryon. His defense attorney Friday said it actually is Byron. He spent a year on probation after pleading guilty in 2002 to two prostitution-related misdemeanors. Police said he managed a massage parlor where police made arrests in 2001.
Jurors learned during the trial that BDSM enthusiasts call their sex practices "play.” They call those not into their lifestyle "vanilla.” Jurors also heard about "safe words” and "dominants” and "submissives.”

Larsen told jurors, "Being spanked turns me on. I don't know why. It's a switch in my brain.”

She said her father has told her she is going to hell.

"I grew up in a very strict Mormon lifestyle. I know what people think about this,” she testified.

Some jurors called the practices disgusting.
Others were more accepting, saying it was only an extreme version of such things, like hair pulling, that lots of couples do during moments of passion.

The arrested juror, Brown, was unsteady on his feet and smelled strongly of alcohol Friday morning. He had been a problem earlier in the trial for the judge, arriving Wednesday 90 minutes late.

"I'm not drunk,” Brown told the judge Friday morning. "I was drinking last night, but I'm not drunk.”

See more photo's on: NewsOK.