From the Department of Dubious Defenses: The Extreme Dieting Made Me Do It
Long Island has been riveted by the case of a well-to-do couple convicted late last year of forced labor, harboring aliens, and peonage (yes, peonage). We briefly mentioned the story here (last item).
The wife, Varsha Sabhnani, 46, was sentenced yesterday. From the AP:
A millionaire who inflicted years of abuse on two Indonesian housekeepers held as virtual slaves in her Long Island mansion was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison….The victims testified that they were beaten with brooms and umbrellas, slashed with knives, and forced to climb stairs and take freezing showers as punishment. One victim was forced to eat dozens of chili peppers and then was forced to eat her own vomit when she couldn’t keep the peppers down, prosecutors said.
U.S. District Judge Arthur Spatt called the testimony “eye-opening, to say the least — that things like that go on in our country.”
Absolutely horrific offense conduct. What kind of mitigation case did Mrs. Sabhnani put on?
Defense attorney Jeffrey Hoffman said that 175 letters were submitted to the court detailing Sabhnani’s charitable acts around the world. He called her “a woman who spent a lifetime doing good deeds.”
Like beating the help with brooms and making them slurp up their own puke. A veritable Mother Teresa.
Hoffman said that around 2004 or 2005, Sabhnani’s weight plummeted from 325 pounds to 135. “She did it by starving herself,” and that resulted in a chemical imbalance and significant malnourishment. “She had become a very different person.”
Look, everyone gets a little grumpy when they’re dieting. But this may be a bit of a stretch.
New York millionaire gets 11 years in prison for enslaving workers [AP]
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Sounds like the way things used to be (and still are) in south Asia...
"The dieting made me do it" is an Interesting theory.
Maybe Judge Halverson is going to use this an an excuse for her personality - she will claim that she used to be 1,000 lbs but starved herself down to a skinny 500?
Since when have we started calling prescription addictions a "chemical imbalance"
I never cease to wonder at the at the utter lack of shame on the part of the defense bar. Thet don't seem to realize that zealous (or indeed effective) advocacy does not include the preposturous. Of course the "Jenny Craig" mitigation ploy did not go over too well considering the sentence.
FIRST to say that you misspelled "Theresa". Giggity, giggity, goo!
12:06 - First to say you're wrong.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/teresa-bio.html
Man, fat people.
That's an awful photo of her.
wait, she only got 11 years??? For torturing two people for her own cleaning needs?
This woman should have gotten 30 years, minimum.. With 11 years she'll be out in 9. And vacationing at the Hamptons again, the evil bitch.
46?
12:21 -- It ain't the picture.
capital punishment.
They made their money through a perfume business run out of their home? I need to start paying attention to some of that spam email.
can we have fewer vomit eating stories around lunchtime? thanks.
To be fair, her actual defense (which isn't much better) is that the housekeepers made up the story, practiced witchcraft, and injured themselves as part of a self-mutilation ritual.
Just one look at the mug, and you know she never had a change with a jury. Yikes! Curella De Ville meets the Adams family.
She makes Leona Helmsley look like June Cleaver.
Move over Leona, there is a new Queen of Mean.
How does someone not remember the YEAR he/she lost 290 pounds???
1:39 -- actually, it's 190. I'd say that's pretty forgettable.
"Move over Leona, there is a new Queen of Mean."
Isn't this a bit of an understatement? It's sort of like comparing Archie Bunker to Robert Mugabe...
That is one fierce looking bitch.
man uuugly!!
Can someone do a comparison of the federal sentencing guidelines for drugs with what this woman got for...being a cross between Miss Hannigan and Torquemada? I'm too lazy but want to know.
Guys at my high school used to force peonage all the time. It was no big deal.
she looks like danny devito's penguin...
There has to be a big-time civil suit on the way. The convict and her husband have deep pockets. Let's hope the housekeepers win millions in damages. I think they dererve it.
Silly millionaire, should have called them Summer Associates instead of maid. Would have gotten off with a slap on the wrist at most.
Summer Associates are treated like each is a little Dauphin. Where did *you* summer - Auschwitz?
1:52 PM: Leona was a lot meaner than Archie
Bunker.
4:06 - I'm summering with a Judge....Monday is chili pepper day haha.
- But I do stand corrected, summers at big firms do get treated a tad big better than these maids. So???? We'll call em first year associates??