Dragon Army - WoW 'couple' : Murder trial begins

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Suspect’s attorney: Death ‘an accident, plain and simple’

Bondage murder trial begins
By CHRIS GRAHAM

The attorney of a Maury County woman accused of killing her husband by leaving him tied up for 20 hours as part of a bondage sex game said the death was accidental and the practice was a common part of the couples’ sex life.

Rebecca Bargy, 26, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of her husband, James Bargy, whose body was found tied inside the couples’ mobile home at 1110 Jacob’s Lane. James Bargy was found wearing women’s lingerie, lying on his stomach with his arms and legs tied behind his back. He also had a ball gag in his mouth, which was duct-taped shut, and an ace bandage wrapped around his head exposing only his nostrils.

In opening statements in Maury County Circuit Court Tuesday, Defense Attorney Samuel Patterson maintained his client’s innocence and called James Bargy’s death “a tragedy.” He said the couple had been engaging in bondage for six years.

“This was an accident, plain and simple,” he said. “It was consensual between a man and wife. ... People have sex in different ways.”

According to a written statement by Rebecca Bargy, she left her husband tied up inside their home while she went to meet her boyfriend, Matthew Gilmore, whom she was corresponding with on a social networking Web site. Rebecca Bargy wrote that she had tied up her husband the night before his death, picked up Gilmore, and went to the Days Inn in Columbia where the two had sex. The next day she wrote she came home to find James Bargy out of his bonds.

That evening Rebecca Bargy tied her husband again and stayed with Gilmore, before returning home about 20 hours later to find James Bargy was dead, according to her statement.

Dr. James Walker, a sexual disorder expert and director of forensic services at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, said people have developed several ground rules when participating in bondage, including having the partner loosen the bonds or having a safe word in case things get out of hand, because the practice is perilous.

Maury County Sheriff’s Detective Anthony Bailey holds a pair of handcuffs retrieved near where James Bargy was found dead inside his trailer home at 1110 Jacob’s Lane. Authorities allege his wife, Rebecca, bound James and left him for 20 hours.Staff photo by Chris Graham
“This is a very dangerous activity,” he said.

Patterson asked Walker whether James Bargy may have liked being asphyxiated as part of a sexual fantasy. The expert said it was unlikely.

“Just the fantasy of being tied up provides a very strong sexual turn-on,” for people who participate in bondage, he said.

Maury County Sheriff’s Detective Anthony Bailey testified that several items typically used for bondage were collected from the house, including white rope, handcuffs and duct tape. Authorities also recovered photographs depicting the couple engaged in past bondage episodes and two pornographic videos titled “The Best of Struggle and Bondage Volume 3” and “The Fetish Fetish.”

Throughout the day, Rebecca Bargy, dressed in a white button down shirt and black jacket and long skirt, sat silently and occasionally held her head in her hands.

Assistant District Attorney General Larry Nickell said Rebecca Bargy was negligent for leaving her husband “hog-tied” and alone for 20 hours.

Gilmore
“This is not the way you leave someone,” he said to the six men and six women and four alternates on the jury.

When cross-examined by Patterson, Bailey said the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confiscated Rebecca Bargy’s laptop computer but did not find any evidence she wanted to kill her husband. Authorities originally charged her with reckless homicide, but the district attorney’s office sought a second-degree murder indictment from a Maury County grand jury, Bailey said.

In her statement to authorities, Rebecca Bargy wrote that she had attempted to leave her husband several times and alluded to an episode in 2007 when James Bargy told her he had eaten rat poison because he didn’t want to live anymore.

Gilmore, who testified Tuesday, said Rebecca Bargy told him that she had wanted to leave James Bargy. Gilmore, who was also married at the time, said he met Rebecca while playing an online role-playing game called 'World of Warcraft.' He said the two developed a romantic online relationship before meeting two days before James Bargy’s death.

Another witness, Tiffany Owen, who worked with Rebecca Bargy at a Kroger grocery store prior to the killing, said Rebecca Bargy told her several times she wanted to leave her husband.

Dr. Thomas Deering of the Medical Examiner’s Office in Nashville testified at the trial Tuesday. Deering has stated James Bargy suffocated because of the ball gag in his mouth. The medical examiner also said pulmonary edema, which is fluid in the lungs, and congestive heart failure contributed to his death.

The defense is expected to present its case 9 a.m. Wednesday.

If convicted, Rebecca Bargy could be sentenced to 15-60 years in prison.

Source: http://www.c-dh.net/articles/2009/05/20/top_stories/01bondage.txt

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