They also continued their "fascinating" discussion of other topics from e-mail: dismemberment, Jeffrey Dahmer, sci-fi creatures devouring each other during intercourse, good and evil, the danger of contracting AIDS and other diseases from unprotected sex, schizophrenia, self-defense, and more.
Several hours into their date, she said, she disrobed at Jovanovic's bidding, lay down, and let him tie her to his futon chair-bed. For the next 20 hours, she said, he gagged and choked her, burned her with hot candle wax, bit her breasts until they bled, beat her with a black wood karate-type club on her legs and genital area, and sodomized her by inserting the club or his penis into her anus.
ZZ5 testified that she did not begin to resist Jovanovic until three or more hours into their date: She said the reason she took so long to say no to his atrocities was that she felt intellectually intimidated by Jovanovic, that she initially thought his tying her up "was a joke," and that she had trouble "being assertive." "I don't now, but I did then," she said, before dissolving in tears on the stand.
This testimony by an admitted bullshitter seemed to give the defense a good chance to prove its case for consent. On the stand, ZZ5 admitted that she had willingly submitted to some of Jovanovic's tortures. And her post-torture behavior also appeared inconsistent. She delayed seeking medical help for the supposedly painful aftermath of her ordeal for several days.
She also sent Jovanovic several ambiguous e-mails. "Quite bruised mentally and physically, but never been so happy to be alive, now if I'm happy simply because I'm not dead, well, some may question that. But nonetheless, all's well on 116th st .... [William] Burroughs best sums my state, saying something about rotting eggs or rotting cheese, the taste is so overpoweringly delicious, and at the same time, quite nausiating so that one will eat and puke and eat and puke until collapsing from exhaustion." "As happy as ever, and with renewed enthusiasm for life," she wrote in her last note.
Conclusive physical evidence in the case was lacking. There were no bite or burn marks, for example, to help substantiate ZZ5's story. The prosecution argued that Jovanovic was an accomplished sadist who knew how to avoid leaving marks. The only real evidence against him was the word of his victim, and his own roughly two months worth of e-mail. No one testified about such cyberculture quirks as the notorious difficulty in distinguishing the truth or fantasy of e-mail postings.
The DA treated Jovanovics e-mail as fact, but chalked up that of the victim to playful fantasy and a love of language. As a result, she survived her ordeal virtually (to make a bad pun) unscathed. Jovanovic--espite the DAs admission that "we don't know what else this man may be guilty of" --received a far stiffer sentence than that given many murderers.
"CAN YOU TOP THIS"
A strict deconstruction of the email shows it to be a post-modern courtship. But cyberculture has also transformed the contents of courtship. It has turned the expression of traditional romantic love into its opposite, converting potential lovers into rival Scheherazades, each trying to top the other with the most sordid and shocking images or ideas.
The first Instant Message between ZZ5 and Gray begins innocuously.
Zutzu5: hmm whaT do you do?
Gray: Research and design...
The two proceeded to discuss their prior experience in RPGs (computer role-playing games), their parents, educational backgrounds, and career aspirations (hers to be a lawyer, his to get his doctorate). Minutes later she confided her first sexual fantasy, along with her interest in "violence and chaos," her yearning to make a snuff film--a genre that ends in an actual death--and her interest in creating an army so as to make war on New York streets. In response, he discussed his interests in sex, magic, and the occult, and referred her to some obscure books and films on pagan rituals linked with the cult of Pan.
Zutzut5: (secret wanna hear?)
Gray: Sure.
Zutzut5: 1st xual fantasy- pan. i love him...
Gray: Yes... Are you familiar with the rituals and invocations associated with Pan?
Rather than vying to voice their idealization of a cyber-beloved, Zutzut5 and Gray describe .themselves in debased or jaded terms. ZZ5 laments her lack of morals, her prior "girly"-ness, her "fickelly obsessive" tendencies in relationships. Gray alludes rhetorically to his stupidity, his average, non-glamorous height, his "strange and dark" appearance and occasional resemblance to "a serial killer."
Initially their cyber-correspondence was sporadic. Early on there were some three weeks in which Gray did not respond to ZZ5's e-mail because he was traveling. But after he returned, the pace of their e-mailing picked up. Soon, they were writing each other several times a day.
Gray showed himself to be a cyber-name-dropper of major proportions. In response to every subject ZZ5 broached, he had an erudite or obscure author, book, or film to refer her to. Still, he writes like your traditional man of yore. His e-mails are short, to the point, all business. In contrast, ZZ5 is the more active pursuer. It is she who first suggested an off-screen meeting, especially when she learned Gray's real name.
Gray:...my name's Oliver, by the way.
Zutzut5: and i may proposition you for coffee latte will you object?..."oliver?!.., Its my most beloved name ever, named my cocker spaniel oliver...
ZutzutS: i'm not repulsive kinda cute
MURDER, SHE WROTE
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