Jury deliberations begin in sex abuse, forced labour trial
A jury in the US has started to deliberate the fate of a man charged with exploiting college friends of his daughter to get free labour and millions of dollars after convincing them they’d poisoned him or wronged him and owed retribution.
The Manhattan federal court jury started to weigh the evidence of racketeering, sex trafficking, conspiracy, forced labour and other charges against Lawrence Ray after several hours of closing arguments over two days.
Jurors went home without reaching a verdict after deliberating less than an hour.
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US officials in 2020 announce the indictment of Larry Ray. Prosecutors allege Ray created a cult-like criminal enterprise at Sarah Lawrence. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
Ray, 62, described most frequently as “Larry” by trial witnesses over the last month, could face life in prison if he is convicted of physically and mentally abusing the students to gain control of them for what one prosecutor said was a desire for power, money and sex.
Although he did not testify, Ray maintained through his lawyers that he is not guilty of charges that he abused several students that he met after moving in to his daughter's dormitory at Sarah Lawrence College in fall 2010.
One of them testified that Ray encouraged her to become a sex worker and pay him sex work proceeds as compensation for having poisoned him. She said she paid Ray $2.5 million over a four-year period, giving him between US$10,000 and US$50,000 a week.
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Father, Larry Ray, of a former Sarah Lawrence College student allegedly extorted and abused several students. CNN
Closing arguments concluded Tuesday before Judge Lewis J. Liman instructed jurors on the law they must follow during deliberations.
In a rebuttal summation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon criticised the defence for saying that multiple victims lied on the witness stand about their experiences during most of a decade with Ray.
The judge warned jurors that prosecutors had used “strong language” in its rebuttal argument, but that they should keep in mind that defence lawyer Marne Lenox and the other lawyers had not acted improperly in closing arguments. Lenox said the woman who became a prostitute had “struggled for years” to tell the truth.
“Tactics and methods of counsel in this case was proper,” he said. “Each lawyer was just doing their jobs.”
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