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January 27, 2006

Prosecutor acts out in Mass. dominatrix case / Photo

AP photo / Greg Derr
Assistant Disrict Attorney Bob Nelson wears the mask found in defendant Barbara Asher's makeshift "dungeon" as part of a demonstration of how Michael Lord may have died.

DEDHAM, Mass. -- A prosecutor, wearing a leather mask while re-enacting an allegedly fatal bondage session, told jurors today that a dominatrix on trial for manslaughter "did nothing" to help her client when he suffered a heart attack.

During closing arguments, prosecutor Robert Nelson said Quincy dominatrix Barbara Asher was indifferent to the suffering and death of Michael Lord, of North Hampton, N.H., who disappeared in July 2000. His body has never been found.

Halfway through his animated closing, in which he pointed and hollered at Asher, Nelson donned a leather mask and spoke through the mask's zippered mouth. With both hands, he reached back and clutched the top of a blackboard to simulate Lord being strapped to a replica of a medieval torture device in Asher's condominium.

"After a gasp, his head went forward and she did nothing, nothing for five minutes," Nelson said, his voice muffled through the mask.

He paused as his head hung forward as if to simulate Lord's alleged death.

Defense attorney Stephanie Page objected. Norfolk Superior Court Judge Charles Grabau agreed. "That's enough Mr. Nelson," the judge said. "Thank you for your demonstration."

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