Grace Millane Case Analysis | Rough Sex Defense

hello this is dr grande today's question is can i analyze the case of grace mullane another question here would be what is the rough sex defense just a reminder i'm not diagnosing anybody in this video only speculating about what could be happening in a situation like this if you enjoyed this video please like it subscribe to my channel and consider supporting me on patreon i'll put the link to patreon in the description for this video so first i'll take a look at the background it's fairly brief in this case i'll move to the timeline of the crime then offer my analysis this case primarily involves two people grace mullane and jesse kempson grace mullane was born on december 2 1996. she lived in essex england she earned a bachelor's degree in advertising and marketing from the university of lincoln jesse kempson was 26 years old at the time of the crime he lived in new zealand he was raised there by his father and grandfather after his parents separated when he was nine years old his mother had moved to australia kempson was estranged from his family they had caught him stealing from them and they told him he needed to receive mental health counseling or move out of the family home he decided to go to australia he lived there with his mother in sydney from 2013 to 2016. after this he moved back to new zealand on prior occasions he had been arrested in both auckland new zealand and sydney australia for disorderly behavior he also had a dui conviction in new zealand he worked on various occasions as a laborer and bartender now moving to the timeline of the crime in 2018 grace decided to travel to a number of places in various areas around the world and backpack on november 20 2018 she arrived in new zealand she had been in south america for six weeks before that she planned on spending two weeks in new zealand ten days later on november 30 she arrived in auckland the next day december 1 she was spotted on victoria street at 9 00 pm she was captured again at 9 15 pm on video surveillance in an entertainment complex called sky city and then the last time she was seen was at the city life hotel on queen street at 9 41 pm at this time she was with jessie kempson the next day was december 2. this was grace's 22nd birthday her parents had sent her a message for her birthday but she did not reply three days later she was reported missing on december 8 at about 3 p.m jesse kempson was arrested the police thought he had murdered grace that same day they had located a car that jesse had rented on december 2 and december 3. on december 9 at 4 pm grace's body was recovered it was near scenic drive about 12 miles west of auckland on december 10 jesse was charged with murder three days later the police would find a shovel that they believe was used by jesse to bury grace's body jesse pleaded not guilty the trial would begin in november of 2019 it was alleged by the prosecution that grace met jesse through a dating app called tinder they were both looking for sex that was described as bdsm and rough after they met they went a few different places before making their way to the city life hotel jesse restrained grace presumably as part of the bdsm sex then murdered her by strangulation based on the bruises identified in the autopsy jesse had choked grace for at least four to five minutes three women testified that jesse met them on tinder and that he liked choking women as part of sex after the murder he took pictures of grace's body viewed pornography and searched the internet for how to dispose of bodies he bought a large suitcase cleaning supplies including gloves a shovel he rented a carpet cleaning machine and rented a 2016 toyota corolla with grace's body still in the hotel room jesse went on another date with a woman he met on tinder that woman testified about a few things that jesse told her which she found to be curious he was from australia and just visiting auckland he lived in the city life hotel he was friends with a number of police officers those officers were struggling because all the bodies that were buried in the ground around the area their police dogs could not detect any body in the ground if it was buried more than four feet again this is what jesse was telling this woman jesse talked about a criminal case in which a man and a woman were engaging in erotic asphyxiation and the woman died the man was sent to prison he had empathy for the man he also told the woman that he had spent the day looking for a large duffel bag with wheels so we see more than a few indications that perhaps jesse wasn't the ideal date to connect with on tinder after this jesse returned to the hotel room he folded grace's body into the suitcase that he purchased he loaded that suitcase into the rental car drove to an area that was remote and buried the suitcase still containing grace's body in a shallow grave the defense agreed with many of the points made by the prosecution for example jesse did dispose of grace's body but they said that it wasn't murder it was a consensual sexual misadventure jesse was choking grace and accidentally killed her they were engaging in erotic asphyxiation consensually the defense argued that jesse had no motive why would he kill grace that didn't make sense under the circumstances they didn't know each other there was no long-standing dispute between them there was no dispute between them or at least there should not have been in that time frame they also noted that grace's blood alcohol concentration was over two times the legal limit for driving they said that contributed to her death the strategy of the defense is referred to as the rough sex defense i'll talk more about that later the defense interviewed people who interacted with grace one man who had sex with grace said that she asked to be choked another man said that grace was more naive than most women interested in bdsm she was too trusting a woman who knew grace testified that grace said she liked it when a man put his hands around her neck during sex here is jesse's story about what happened this was also of course part of the defense grace asked him to be choked he was taken by surprise he didn't even know what that was erotic asphyxiation is never something that he had ever seen or done he did it to comply with her request after sex he fell asleep in the shower then went back to bed but found no one there he assumed that grace had left his room he found her the next day on the floor she was dead blood was coming from her nose he went to call for help he typed the numbers into his phone for emergency services but then he froze he realized how bad it would look when the police arrived after he purchased a suitcase he folded her body into it and he cried the whole time and occasionally vomited he was so sorry for what he continued to do over the course of a long period of time so we can see that his story doesn't really necessarily ring sincere but this was his narrative jesse kempson was found guilty of murder several women had come forward after grace's death with additional complaints about jesse jesse would be found guilty for those crimes as well including charges related to assault and threatening he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 17 years now moving to my analysis now of course we don't know many of the details from the actual murder of grace all we really have is jesse's account and there are reasons to believe that is inaccurate but as i mentioned several women accused jesse of other crimes one of those women was his ex-girlfriend she said that not only was jesse physically violent including threatening her with a knife but he drained her savings account taking more than ten thousand dollars she said the aggression started right after the relationship began they were having an argument and he slapped her across the face she had already moved in with them at that point and felt trapped she tried to work things out with him but his anger was out of control she said that she loved him and could not understand why he became so angry with her she would fight back against his violence but eventually she lost the will to resist one night in 2017 jesse tried to kill her she left at that point this was seven months into the relationship after leaving she obtained a protection order based on what jesse's ex-girlfriend and other witnesses said it would appear as though jesse was intense angry and aggressive let's take a look at some of his other characteristics jesse appeared to have difficulty telling the truth a few examples based on his conversations with various women he claimed to be a cancer survivor he said that he was going to buy a waterfront restaurant he was a wealthy business person jesse appeared to be socially awkward like talking on a tinder date about how police dogs can't find buried bodies jesse described himself as arrogant and selfish some people believe that jesse is narcissistic and psychopathic based on the characteristics he displayed was jesse clemson guilty of the crimes i think he was the damage to grace's body shows that he used more force than necessary during erotic asphyxiation and maintained pressure even after she was unconscious it could be that he simply strangled her and she never consented to anything so again we don't have her side the story so it's not clear that this action took place inside a consensual experience we see that jesse lied repeatedly about what happened he disposed of her body he had a history of violence against women he went on a date as a murder victim's body was in his room this is inconsistent with the story he told about feeling remorse what do i think happened in this case i think that grace and jesse both had an interest in erotic asphyxiation i don't think jesse had premeditated the murder but he probably intended to take things too far after things got started jesse made the decision to kill grace and that's what he did this was a sexual domination homicide similar to what we see with serial killers now moving to the last question what is the rough sex defense this criminal defense is sometimes referred to as the fifty shades of grey defense referring of course to the book and movie fifty shades of grey which featured bdsm the strategy is not new this defense has been used in many cases over the course of several years sometimes with success other times without success the vast majority of the time this defense is employed the perpetrator is male the victim is female and the cause of death is strangulation this defense essentially states that the man and the woman were having sex it was consensual strangulation was part of it like erotic asphyxiation the man either lost control didn't realize his own strength or didn't properly manage the force being used and death resulted it's often used to reduce a murder charge down to something like manslaughter or to facilitate the defendant being found not guilty some people criticize this defensive strategy because as part of its execution the victim is blamed the perpetrator tries to say that there was consent the woman knew the risks of the behavior the critics would like the defense banned altogether all deaths from strangulation would result in a murder charge the logic behind this position is that a person cannot consent to harm that results in death if people want to engage in rough sex both parties have to manage how much harm is caused if one person takes it too far then they are guilty they need to leave out the dying part the proponents of the defense say a person should only be convicted of what they actually did if two people are consenting to a dangerous activity it makes sense that sometimes that danger will be greater than expected for example waterskiing is dangerous but most deaths related to it do not result in a murder charge skydiving we see the same thing what if we looked at something like boxing if someone consents to a boxing match is there consent not valid if they die as a result was a murder committed if a person does not intend to cause death then they do not have men's rhea a criminal state of mind this defensive strategy creates a challenging freedom versus security debate i can see good points on both sides i think one of the major problems regarding sex versus other activities like skydiving or boxing is that those activities happen in the open sex typically does not if one boxer kills another everybody can see that it was just part of the sport it wasn't like the boxer was trying to cause death if something happens in the privacy of a sexual encounter who knows what happened if one partner is dead then there's only one side there's only one person telling the story and of course that person is always going to say that it was an accident i don't have a solution for the legal dilemma but as far as the safety issue i think there are some strategies that may increase safety during these intense encounters or when considering who should be a partner for these encounters these tips are not necessarily specific to the case of grace mullane clearly jesse kempson was fully responsible for that homicide grace was a victim in the situation these are simply general tips that may avoid some of the risks associated as people contemplate this activity it is a dangerous activity so it makes sense that precautions should be implemented moving to the behaviors that people may want to consider avoiding a person interested in this activity may want to consider avoiding partners who have narcissistic or psychopathic characteristics although it is sometimes very difficult to see these characteristics especially in the short run narcissist and psychopaths can be very good about appearing charming when interactions are limited to just a few minutes or a few hours it's also a good idea to avoid serial killers this is good advice regardless of the activity being contemplated serial killers don't really add value to any situation they're universally destructive the person may want to consider avoiding partners who they do not know very well avoid using substances especially to the degree that it may cause impairment the person may want to make sure that friends or family know where they are although obviously that activity can be considered a bit embarrassing for some people so it's understandable why they wouldn't want to advertise what they were doing to their family members and friends and finally it would be a good idea to avoid lethal types of harm i don't know how else to really put this strangulation is dangerous that's why we don't see the word associated with positive prognostications or sentiment like i'm looking forward to the strangulation later or i like this product does it come with strangulation so now moving back to the case of grace mullane what lessons can be learned in a case like this somebody like jesse kempson whose experience of excitement is enhanced by aggression and or sadism represents a danger to society every excitement-seeking endeavor needs to have a limit some people are not good with setting limits those are my thoughts in the case of grace mullane please put any opinions and thoughts in the comment section they always generate an interesting dialogue as always i hope you found my analysis of this topic to be interesting thanks for watching

Channel: Dr. Todd Grande

Views: 93,230

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Id: 9Yr026WshL0

Length: 17min 7sec (1027 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 29 2021