BROOKLYN, NY – Jury deliberation is expected in the trial of Glenn Marcus, a 53 year-old man from Long Island, NY, accused of sex trafficking, forced labor, and distribution of obscene materials via his BDSM website, Slavespace.com. (The site was shut down when Marcus was arrested in May of 2005.)Although not necessarily relevant to the question of whether the content Marcus distributed is legally obscene, the jury’s verdict in the case may hinge on the question of whether a key prosecution witness, identified only as “Jodi,” consented to the acts of humiliation, domination, and torture described in the evidence and testimony presented in the case.
Using laws typically reserved for the prosecution of human traffickers in furtherance of illicit prostitution and “slave labor” offenses, federal prosecutors charge that Marcus not only forced Jodi to be his sex slave, but forced Jodi and other female slaves to work on his website, including to serve as a kind of “human clickbot” in order to generate revenue from pay-per-click affiliate programs.
According to the New York Daily News, prosecutors stated that Marcus ordered one of his slaves to repeatedly click links on his site “for hours on end” to generate revenue from other sites. Documents filed by the prosecution allege that if the woman “took a break from working on the Web site, the defendant beat and tortured [the woman] as punishment.”
Representing Marcus in the case is Manhattan-based attorney Maurice Sercarz, who contends that Marcus is not guilty of the sex trafficking and forced labor charges because Jodi consented to the treatment that she received from Marcus.
“If the jury is willing to look beyond the bondage, dominance, sadomasochism context of this case, and examine the evidence, it will be very clear that my client is innocent,” said Sercarz, according to the Daily News.
In her testimony before the jury, Jodi said that she met Marcus via the internet in 1998, and conceded that she did consent to becoming one of his slaves. Jodi also testified, however, that despite her consent having experimented a bit with sadomasochism in two previous relationships, she was not prepared for the extreme nature of Marcus’ sadism.
Jodi testified that over the course of a two year period, Marcus dominated her severely, including branding the initial “G” on her buttocks and carving the word “Slave” onto her stomach.
“I was now his property and I belonged to him,” Jodi testified, according to the Daily News. “And whatever I was before I came to him didn’t exist anymore.”
In one 2001 incident, Jodi said that Marcus punished her by placing a ball in her mouth, fixing her mouth shut with sewing needles and hanging her on the wall. At other times, Marcus tied her down and burned her genitals with a lit cigarette while she screamed, Jodi said.
“I felt like I was literally in hell,” Jodi said, according to accounts from the Associated Press.
A witness for the defense, however, disputed Jodi’s claims, and asserted that Jodi, like Marcus’ other slaves, consented to everything that took place. The female witness, “Rona,” was also permitted by U.S. District Judge Allyne Ross to testify without divulging her full, legal name.
Rona testified that while she was living with Jodi and Marcus, Jodi participated in various acts of bondage and sex willingly and consensually. Rona also described Marcus as “harmless,” according to the Associated Press.
“I love being around Glenn,” said Rona. “He’s a lot of fun.”
Jodi testified that she was afraid to complain to Marcus’ other slaves out of fear that the women would tell Marcus about the complaint and she would only be punished more harshly.
Saying that she mustered the courage to leave Marcus in late 2001, Jodi also admitted that she maintained contact with him and even went camping with him on one occasion, according to the Associated Press.
The AP also reports that Jodi finally decided to contact the FBI after Marcus refused to remove pictures of her from the website.
Prosecutor Pam Chen argued in her closing that under the law, it doesn’t matter that Jodi was not literally under lock and key. Jodi was “made captive by the fear,” Chen said.
Chen told the jury that Marcus had violated the standards of both civilized society and the S&M community, according to the AP.
“Glenn Marcus made his own rules,” Chen said. “He thought he was God.”
According to NewsDay.com, Secarz countered that Marcus “is not guilty because he did not trick or coerce the complainant to join any relation. He did not compel her to engage in work beyond her will.”
Secarz also contended that Marcus’ website was “funny, disgusting and provocative, but it is not obscene.”
