A jury has begun deliberating within the trial of Lawrence Ray, an ex-convict accused of shifting into his daughter's dorm at Sarah Lawrence Faculty and manipulating her pals right into a cult-like devotion to get free labor and hundreds of thousands of dollars. The trial was interrupted twice so Ray might go to a hospital.
Federal prosecutors stated Ray began by charming his younger victims, then turned to bodily abuse and psychological torment to extort cash, intercourse and different favors.
He tricked some into believing that they had poisoned him, prosecutors stated. One lady testified she was coerced into prostitution.
Though he didn't testify, Ray maintained by his attorneys that he was falsely accused. If convicted, Ray faces a most sentence of life in jail.
The allegations towards Ray attained public prominence with the 2020 publication of "The Stolen Children of Sarah Lawrence," a New York journal characteristic.
Jurors had been set to renew work Wednesday after deliberating lower than an hour. Ray, 62, is charged with racketeering, intercourse trafficking, conspiracy, compelled labor and different crimes.
Federal authorities started investigating Ray after a prolonged article in New York journal explored his relationship with college students at Sarah Lawrence, a small, non-public liberal arts school simply north of New York Metropolis.
On the trial, Ray was accused of spending practically a decade manipulating a circle of his daughter's pals, who he met after shifting into her dorm in 2010.
Certainly one of them testified that Ray inspired her to grow to be a prostitute and pay him intercourse work proceeds as compensation for having poisoned him. She stated she paid Ray $2.5 million over a four-year interval, giving him between $10,000 and $50,000 every week. When she testified, Ray grew to become so in poor health that he was taken to a hospital.
Closing arguments concluded Tuesday earlier than Decide Lewis J. Liman.
Ray's lawyer, Marne Lenox, contended on Monday that Ray was the sufferer, and that the younger individuals he lived with had been "storytellers" who had made him really feel attacked and paranoid.
"Everybody was out to get him, Larry believed," Lenox stated.
In a rebuttal summation, Assistant U.S. Legal professional Danielle Sassoon criticized the protection for saying that a number of victims lied on the witness stand about their experiences.
The decide, although, instructed the jury that "every lawyer was simply doing their jobs."