Man Wins Appeal of Sex Torture Verdict

An appeals court in New York overturned the conviction of a Columbia University student who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for kidnapping and sexually torturing a woman he met online. The state appellate court ruled that the trial judge incorrectly prevented Oliver Jovanovic from showing a jury online conversations and e-mail in which the woman showed interest in participating in sadomasochism. Jovanovic, 32, lured the woman to his apartment for 20 hours on Nov. 22, 1996. He maintains that she arrived and left freely.