Democrat From 'Obama Era' Charged With Sex Trafficking And Torture
A Texas Democrat has been found guilty on six counts of torture
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A Texas Democrat has been found guilty on six counts of sex trafficking and torture a judge has ruled in San Antonio.
Mark Benavides, a powerful Democrat in the Obama era who ran for 186th District Court in 2014, faced charges by federal law enforcement for trading his legal services in return for sex with vulnerable young women before filing the ordeals.
Benavides had a long list of clients which included prostitutes and drug addicts, all of whom were granted his services by trial judges via court-appointed attorney programs.
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Benavides promised vulnerable woman legitimate defense in the courtroom in return for sex and physical torture the court heard.
Police discovered 246 total “pornographic DVDs” inside of a filing cabinet in the home of Benavides, each containing sexual films of his female clients. Some content was so explicit that one of the female jurors fainted as the group of twelve left the courtroom after being forced to watch them.
Thegoldwater.com reports: Throughout the trial, the San Antonio Police Department’s Detective Manual Morales testified that during one of the search warrant executions at Benavides’ homes they discovered an enormous treasure-trove of digital video recordings which depicted Benavides in scenes of sexual gratification for the perverse Attorney who forced his clients into such ordeals.
Some of the content on the explicit videos had such graphic scenes, that one of the female jurors fainted as the group of twelve left the courtroom on Tuesday after being forced to watch them.
The sex-romps with the clients occurred at numerous locations, according to police, with some of the videos being recorded in both jury boxes and courtrooms, as the former clients also testified to, where Benavides had his clients after-hours, and others have occurred inside of various motel rooms across the state.
Benavides Attorneys during the trial had initially requested the trial be moved from San Antonio to Floresville, since the attorney was so widely renown in the area, and the trial had made headlines across the city.
Both the Prosecution and Defense finished their closing arguments on Tuesday before the jury made their decision after four hours of reviewing the case and finding Benavides guilty on all six counts.
Each of the charges against Benavides will carry between 25 and 99 years in a state penitentiary, where it’s expected he will serve out the remainder of his life behind bars.
Sentencing will begin at 8:30 AM on Wednesday in the Wilson County District Court in Floresville, with Benavides attorneys asking for a suspended sentence in lieu of probation.
Benavides makes it only the latest in numerous Democratic politicians to have been either arrested or convicted of crimes this year, and were only halfway through 2018.
