as bad as O.J.
Dominatrix Acquitted in Bondage Death
DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) -- A dominatrix was acquitted of manslaughter Monday in the death of a man who prosecutors say suffered a heart attack while strapped to a replica of a medieval rack.
Barbara Asher, a 56-year-old woman who called herself Mistress Lauren M, was also cleared of dismemberment.
Prosecutors said that 53-year-old Michael Lord suffered a heart attack in 2000 during a bondage session in a "dungeon" in Asher's condominium and that Asher did nothing to help him for five minutes for fear authorities would find out about her business.
Asher had her boyfriend chop up the body of the 275-pound retired telephone company worker, and they dumped it behind a restaurant in Maine, prosecutors said. His remains have never been found.
Prosecutors said Asher confessed to police, but the alleged confession was not taped, and investigators testified they did not save their notes.
Asher's lawyer, Stephanie Page, said there was nothing to prove Lord was even dead - no body, no blood, no DNA.