Texas Jury Convicts Ex-San Antonio Lawyer of Having Sex With Clients
A Texas jury has found a former San Antonio criminal defense attorney guilty of having sex with his clients in exchange for legal services. He faces…
April 04, 2018 at 01:51 PM
2 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Texas Lawyer
A Texas jury has found a former San Antonio criminal defense attorney guilty of having sex with his clients in exchange for legal services. He faces a range of punishment of anywhere from 25-99 years or life in prison, though he has filed a motion asking the jury to consider sentencing him to probation.
It took the jury four hours to find Mark Benavides guilty of all six counts of continuous trafficking of persons, a first-degree felony, according to a report in the San Antonio Express-News. The jury will begin sentencing deliberations in his case today.
Benavides was arrested in 2015 on multiple counts of sexual assault and compelling prostitution after San Antonio police alleged he forced his clients to have sex with him to pay for legal services. Benavides was also accused of recording his encounters.
Benavides later surrendered his law license in lieu of discipline from the State Bar of Texas in 2016 after he was indicted on 35 felony counts in 2016. Because of pre-trial publicity, Benavides' criminal trial was moved from San Antonio to Floresville.
On the opening day of Benavides' trial, a video was played that was so graphic, a juror fainted as the panel left the courtroom for a brief recess.
The video was played so that only the jury could see it. In the video, a woman could be heard crying “Mark, you're hurting me.” The jurors looked so uncomfortable that Judge Dick Alcala sent them out for a break.
Benavides' assaults allegedly began in 2009, but police couldn't make an arrest because they couldn't corroborate the allegations against him, according to his arrest warrant.
None of the victims knew each other, but they all said Benavides was their lawyer and that he made them have sex with him and video recorded the encounters. And all of them said Benavides has a distinctive tattoo of the scales of justice on his back, according to the warrant.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllLike a Life Raft: Ben Brafman Reflects on Nearly 50 Years as a Defense Attorney
A Reporter and a Mayor: Behind the Scenes During the Eric Adams Indictment News Cycle
Davis Polk and Legal Aid Society Team to Knock 15 Years Off Sex-Trafficking Survivor's Sentence
Litigators of the Week: Feds Drop Charges Against Maryland Lawyer Facing Fraud Case Over $12M in Somali Funds
Trending Stories
- 1Call for Nominations: Elite Trial Lawyers 2025
- 2Senate Judiciary Dems Release Report on Supreme Court Ethics
- 3Senate Confirms Last 2 of Biden's California Judicial Nominees
- 4Morrison & Foerster Doles Out Year-End and Special Bonuses, Raises Base Compensation for Associates
- 5Tom Girardi to Surrender to Federal Authorities on Jan. 7
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250