Jury weighs D.C. Madam case

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - U.S. Sen. David Vitter was spared giving embarrassing testimony in the D.C. Madam trial as both the government and the defendant rested their cases Monday.

Prosecutors opened the racketeering case against Deborah Palfrey last week, calling the witness stand “the hottest seat in D.C. this summer.”

But except for the 13 escorts — including a Naval Academy officer, a 63-year-old professor and a suburban mother — and  three male clients, the temperatures caused few to sweat in the public.

Vitter, R-La., along with former Deputy Secretary of State Randall Tobias and military strategist Harlan Ullman, were listed as possible witnesses but were never called.

Defense attorney Preston Burton closed his final statements by pointing out that after a five-year federal investigation, prosecutors only called 10 percent of the service’s more than 130 escorts. Less than a fraction of 1 percent of the thousands of clients admitted to having sex for money. And none of the witnesses said Palfrey told them to have sex, he said.

Palfrey’s business offered men an erotic-fantasy service, not prostitution, Burton said, comparing Palfrey to a taxi dispatcher who scheduled appointments. Palfrey did not know the escorts were having sex for money, he said.

“Don’t penalize [Palfrey] for the route the cab driver took,” Burton said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Butler said Palfrey chose her words carefully, using code while she talked to her escorts to avoid prosecution.

“It was a pretty clever system,” Butler said. “It would give her plausible deniability.”

But Palfrey slipped several times when she warned the clients in newsletters to beware of law enforcement officials, especially in Alexandria, and telling the women that they were paid by the “activity” not for the 90 minutes, he said. Men do not pay $250 for 90 minutes of casual conversation, Butler said.

“It’s not rocket science,” Butler said. “There’s no question prostitution was going on here.”

The case is now in the hands of a jury that deliberated until Monday afternoon. Palfrey faces four counts, including racketeering, money laundering and using the U.S. mail for illegal purposes.

smccabe@dcexaminer.com

Advertisement