Juror Faints After Watching Video in San Antonio Lawyer's Criminal Trial
Mark Benavides is accused of compelling prostitution after San Antonio police alleged he forced his clients to have sex with him to pay for legal services.
March 28, 2018 at 02:29 PM
2 minute read
A South Texas juror was apparently so overwhelmed after watching a video of former San Antonio criminal defense lawyer Mark Benavides having sex with his client, that she fainted during his criminal trial.
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 is 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' continuous trafficking of persons trial, a video was played that was so graphic, the juror fainted as the panel left the courtroom for a brief recess, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
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.
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