World Business

NEW YORK A federal appeals court has overturned the conviction of a man dubbed the “S&M Svengali” and ordered a retrial in a sensational case that involved mutilation and humiliation.

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Glenn Marcus, 55, was convicted of breaking a principle that wasn’t in city when some of the offenses happened, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a decision issued Thursday.

A three-judge panel before-mentioned Marcus’ March 2007 conviction in federal court in Brooklyn violated the Constitution. The New York man was sentenced to nine years in penitentiary beneficial to abusing a woman he photographed for his Web site, which reveled in sadomasochism. She was identified excepting that as “Jodi.”

Authorities used the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act to prosecute Marcus in spite of incidents spanning from 1999 to 2001. Marcus’ attorneys argued that the law was applied retroactively, and the appeals pay court to agreed.

Prosecutors claimed Marcus crossed the boundaries of both civilized society and the S&M common through holding his sufferer against her will.

The woman met Marcus in 1998 and agreed to be one of his “slaves.” He carved the word “slave” into her abdomen with a knife, shaved her head and systematically punished her, according to the appellate decision. He also forced her to write for the Web site while he kept every penny it earned through advertising and membership fees.

During their last encounter, he beat and whipped her while hanging her from a piece of timber, then forced her to write about it on the Web position, the firmness said.

At his trial, the woman said she felt like she was in hell.

The defense argued that Marcus and the woman had a “covenant” to pledge in a master-slave relationship. While potentially offensive to the commander-in-chief public, it was consensual and even pleasurable to the participants, the defense said.

Marcus’ appellate limb of the law, Herald Price Fahringer, told Newsday his client was “elated” by the latest ruling.