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Jurors at the trial of accused Sarah Lawrence sex-cult leader Larry Ray began deliberating his fate after his defense team and prosecutors ended their closing arguments Tuesday.
The 12-person panel started huddling about 4:15 p.m. after Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Liman explained the legal standard they’ll have to take into account when deciding whether to convict Ray.
The jurors will decide Ray’s guilt or innocence on more than a dozen counts, including racketeering, sex trafficking, conspiracy and a number of financial crimes.
In her closing argument Tuesday morning, defense lawyer Marne Lenox tried to undermine Ray’s accusers’ credibility, claiming they are a group of “storytellers” who embellished or created tales about him.
Lenox specifically attacked the credibility of prosecutors’ star witness, Claudia Drury, who testified that Ray and his alleged top lieutenant, Isabella Pollok, once tortured her for hours in a Midtown hotel room, where she was working as a prostitute.
“There was no assault in the Gregory Hotel. It never happened,” Lenox told jurors.
In her closing argument, prosecutor Mollie Bracewell had zeroed in on the alleged night of torture, arguing it reveals Ray’s guilt on the host of charges that he faces.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this single night of crime tells you almost all you need to know,” Bracewell said.
Throughout the trial, prosecutors and victims painted Ray as a calculating predator who physically, mentally and sexually abused his accusers over the course of a decade.
Ray faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on all counts.
Pollok, his alleged cohort, has pleaded not guilty and will face a separate trial in Manhattan federal court later this year.
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