High court will review 'S&M Svengali' case
Legal News Center
The Supreme Court has agreed to consider reinstating the sex trafficking and forced labor conviction of a man dubbed the "S&M Svengali."
The justices said Tuesday they will hear an appeal filed by federal prosecutors in the case of Glenn Marcus, convicted after a sensational trial that dealt with mutilation and extreme humiliation. Arguments will be held early in 2010.
Last year, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the conviction violated the Constitution because Marcus was convicted of breaking a law, the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act, that wasn't in place when some offenses happened.
In September 2007, Marcus was sentenced to nine years in prison for abusing a woman he photographed for his Web site, which reveled in sadomasochism. She was identified only as "Jodi."
Justice Sonia Sotomayor took no part in the court's consideration of the case. She was on the appeals court panel that ruled in Marcus' favor and joined in the panel's decision. But she wrote separately to suggest that the ruling, though required by a string of 2nd Circuit cases, might not be in line with the Supreme Court's view of the case.
The ruling turned on authorities' use of the 2000 law to prosecute Marcus for incidents spanning from 1999 to 2001. Marcus' attorneys argued, and the court agreed, that the law was applied retroactively.
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