Oliver Jovanovich--an Essay in His Defense
A great tragedy has occurred because Oliver Jovanovic, the son of renowned
chess-coach Svetozar Jovanovic of Yugoslavia and a former prodigy of chess himself, has
been convicted of the "Cyber-Sex Torture" of a former Bernard College Student.
Oliver Jovanovic faces a minimum of 15 years to life and a maximum of 25 years to life as
a result of this conviction.
This case has been going on since November, 1996. All the major New York City dailies have
frequently reported on the unfairness of the proceedings. This seems to be part of a
nationwide trend in which defendants are no longer being allowed to present their defenses
to the jury.
In the case of Jovanovic, the incident in question had arisen after an extensive exchange
of sexually oriented e-mail, which is why this case came to be known as the
"Cyber-Sex Case". In this e-mail, the "victim" detailed her
sado-masochistic experiences and desires. For example, here is a quote from one letter she
wrote to Jovanovic.
"[My boyfriend] was a sadomasochist and now I'm his sex slave and it's painful. But
the fun of telling my friends 'Hey, I'm a sadomasochist' more than outweighs the
torment."
In another e-mail, she said "I'm what those happy pain fiends at the Vault [an
S&M club] call a pushy bottom," a term used to describe someone who is sexually
submissive.
The problem with the trial was that this and numerous other exchanges of e-mail referring
to explicit sexual and sadomasochistic acts were excluded from the jury. The jury was not
allowed to know that the "victim" was actively involved in S&M. Thus, when
she testified that she for the first time came to the house of Jovanovic, immediately
stripped naked, allowed herself to be tied up and then allowed Jovanovic to pour hot wax
over her, this seemed to the jury to be a heinous criminal act on the part of Jovanovic.
The jury had no way of knowing that she had discussed this with Jovanovic prior to coming
to his house and that this was what she wanted.
Even her strenuous efforts to have Jovanovic convicted constitute a manifestation of her
perverted and demented character. The prosecutor told the jury, "She met him one
night, and now she has made it her life's goal to ruin his life."
The trial judge ordered that the jury not be allowed to learn of the exchanges of e-mail
between Jovanovic and his "victim" concerning sadomasochism on the ground of the
New York Rape Shield Law. This is a law which is intended to protect rape victims from
having to reveal their entire sexual history with persons other than the defendant while
bringing a prosecution for rape.
Since the e-mails sent by the victim to Jovanovic included references to sex acts and acts
of S&M she had performed with other men, the judge ruled that the jury was not allowed
to see them.
It seems unlikely that the legislatures who passed the Rape Shield Law envisioned that a
judge would consider sadomasochistic activities to constitute sex and that a jury would
not be allowed to learn about a "victim's" proclivities towards sadomasochism.
If there is ever a case which is likely to be reversed on appeal, this is it. However,
Oliver Jovanovic is in jail now and could spend a year in prison before his appeal is even
heard.
The case drew public attention because Jovanovic, a doctoral student in microbiology at
Columbia University, met his accuser in an Internet chat room. Oliver Jovanovic no longer
actively competes in chess tournaments, but his father, Svetozar Jovanovic, is active as a
chess coach and attended the New York Open Chess Championship two weeks ago.
Sam Sloan
(Webmaster's Note--while the webmaster is not intimate with the details of the case and is not professing Janovic's guilt or innocence, the essay by Mr. Sloan brings up some very good points on consensual sexual activities. See our section on consensual sex.)
UPDATE: On Nov 1, 2001, all charges in the case were dismissed today by state Supreme Court Justice Rena Uviller in the interests of justice after prosecutors announced, without warning, that Jovanovic's accuser was too emotionally unstable to proceed. The dismissal followed on the heels of a Village Voice article published on October 31, 2001 by Nat Hentoff comparing the case to the travesty of the Lenny Bruce prosecution and calling for the DA to drop the case after offering a misdemeanor plea which Oliver refused to accept.