Dominatrix Manslaughter Trial Begins
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A prosecutor said Tuesday that a dominatrix waited too long to call for help as a client died of a heart attack during a bondage session, then dismembered and disposed of the body rather than report the death.
But the woman's lawyer said in her opening statement that the man never visited Barbara Asher's makeshift dungeon and that police made up the story and bullied Asher into confessing.
"No body, no blood, no DNA evidence," defense attorney Stephanie Page said. "Barbara Asher is here because of a theory."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Asher, who went by the name Mistress Lauren M, has pleaded innocent to charges of manslaughter and dismemberment in the death of Michael Lord. The retired telephone company worker from North Hampton, N.H., died in July 2000 while strapped to a rack in Asher's Quincy condominium, according to police.
Prosecutor Robert Nelson said Asher was getting into her dominatrix outfit when she heard a commotion coming from the "dungeon" where Lord was waiting, naked, tied by his wrists to the rack, a replica of a medieval torture device.
She entered the room to find Lord in his death throes, Nelson said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"His arms are flailing about," Nelson said. "There was a gasp, and his head went forward."
Asher waited five minutes before calling her boyfriend to come help, the prosecutor said. Miguel Ferrer, who is charged as an accomplice, arrived 10 minutes later.
"During that time, Mr. Lord continued to hang there, and she did nothing," Nelson said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Asher and Ferrer took Lord down from the rack and tied to revive him, but by then it was too late, Nelson said. Ferrer suggested they call for help, but Asher refused because she was worried the police would find out about her operation, according to the prosecutor. So they put the body in the bathtub and left for the night, he said.
The next day, Nelson said, Ferrer dismembered the body of the 280-pound Lord with a hacksaw and they divided his remains into eight trash bags. The day after that, they drove to Augusta, Maine, where they dumped the remains behind a restaurant, the prosecutor said. His remains have never been found.
A month later, Asher confessed to police following a two-hour interrogation, and that confession forms the basis for much of the state's case. But the interview was not taped, Page said, and the investigators bullied her into saying things that conformed to their theory of what happened.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Michael Lord was never at Barbara Asher's place in July 2000," the defense lawyer said, "and certainly she didn't decide to chop up a body in a bathtub."
Forensic testing of the tub and Asher's car turned up none of Lord's DNA, Page said, nor did they reveal the presence of bleach or any other cleaning agent.
She said investigators failed to follow through on possible leads in the case, including that Lord had a 20-year affair with a married woman.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"That woman's husband had threatened to kill Michael Lord," Page said.
She asked the judge earlier Tuesday to dismiss the charges, saying the state hasn't established that a crime was committed. Judge Charles M. Grabau denied the request.
In addition to the criminal charges, Asher faces a $1 million wrongful death suit filed by Lord's family.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Lord's son, Nathan, was the first prosecution witness. He said he only learned of his father's penchant for sado-masochism weeks after his disappearance, when he and his brother visited Lord's trailer in North Hampton with police to search for clues. They found leather bondage devices and contact numbers and e-mails for escorts and dominatrixes.