She reportedly killed herself in a trailer owned by her mother. This is a disturbing end to an already disturbing case. The prosecutors used the trial to go after not only Palfrey but women who worked for her in past years. Some of these women had long since stopped working as call girls, but prosecutors insisted on their recounting their work in unnecessary detail. In the meantime, the “Johns” like Sen. Vitter were allowed by the prosecutors to mysteriously escape the witness chair.
This is the second suicide related to the case. Former University of Maryland (Baltimore County) professor Brandy Britton arrested on prostitution charges in 2006. She committed suicide in January 2007.
In Palfrey’s case, she faced 55 years in prison.
This case, and other recent cases like ex-Gov. Spitzer, raise question over the criminalization of these relations between consenting adults. I confess to a libertarian tendency on such issues, but it is a debate that we are clearly not ready to have in the country.