SODOMITE MURDER

June 13, 2003
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/6076195.htm
ST. PAUL:
Man sentenced to six years in partner's death during sex act
BY HANNAH ALLAM, Pioneer Press

A St. Paul man found responsible for a lover's death during an unusual sex act was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison. Steven H. Bailey, 54, was convicted in April of manslaughter in the death of Maceo Frank Brodnax, 53. Brodnax had met Bailey on the Internet and traveled from West Hollywood, Calif., to St. Paul for an "erotic knockout session" in Bailey's North End apartment. The encounter proved fatal when Brodnax suffocated while bound to Bailey's bed wearing a chloroform-filled black rubber gas mask that cut off his oxygen.

Police arrested Bailey on Nov. 6, several days after the death, as he was trying to load Brodnax's naked, decomposing body into his car to dump it into the Mississippi River.

Bailey told the judge Thursday he and Brodnax planned to spend three days together enjoying a mutual fetish. Bailey expressed regret over "little things" he could have done to prevent the incident and said he would "mourn Frank's death for the rest of my life."

Bailey said he opted for a judge to preside over his trial because he felt it would be difficult for jurors to "get past the weird part" of his case. He told the judge he and Brodnax shared tender moments when they weren't filming a hard-core pornographic video of themselves. "I understand how bizarre this must be for people not involved in this lifestyle," Bailey said.

Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Margaret Galvin argued for the judge to keep Bailey behind bars for eight years — an upward departure from the state guideline sentence of four years. Galvin said Brodnax was in a vulnerable situation and relied on Bailey to monitor him. Instead, she said, Bailey "deliberately cut off Mr. Brodnax's air supply and then he walked away." Galvin added that Bailey — who calls himself "the True Master" — deserved a longer sentence because he lied about a prostitution conviction, claimed to be unconscious after Brodnax's death and first told police he killed his partner in self-defense. "He's the true master of brutal sex and bizarre sex," Galvin told the judge. "He's also the true master of deception."

Defense attorneys Bruce Wenger and Kathy Pruitt agreed with a four-year guideline sentence and argued against the lengthier term proposed by Galvin. Pruitt said both men consented to the act and that prosecutors have attacked Bailey on his lifestyle rather than the facts of the case. Pruitt said he shows remorse and accepts blame. "Mr. Bailey made a terrible mistake," she said. "He regrets that mistake."

Ramsey County District Judge George Stephenson ruled down the middle — two years longer than the guidelines and defense suggested, but two years shorter than prosecutors requested. He assured Bailey he was not swayed by the case's "salacious facts" and said he believed the death was an accident that occurred during a consensual — and very risky — sex act. "My job isn't to make a value judgment on the decisions made by consenting adults," the judge said. "How I feel about the act has nothing to do with it."

Stephenson said he agreed to a stricter sentence because Bailey took steps to conceal his crime, exhibited signs of engaging in further such high-stakes encounters, and showed little remorse for Brodnax, who was allowed to die "2,000 miles away from home, then left to decompose on the floor of an apartment, and then dragged by the neck to a car." The judge ordered Bailey to repay nearly $7,000 in burial costs to Brodnax's family.

The hearing ended with the prosecution and defense bickering over the return of items seized from Bailey's apartment. Galvin said there is an ongoing investigation involving Bailey and that the items need further review. Wenger, the defense attorney, said Bailey's apartment is bare and that at least the furniture, clothing and artwork should be returned.

The judge warned the parties to reach an agreement. "I will be one pissed-off judge if I have to referee that silliness," Stephenson said.

Hannah Allam can be reached at hallam@pioneerpress.com or (651) 228-2172.