The Media

Press Articles

ALL CHARGES DISMISSED BY JUDGE IN COLUMBIA SEX TORTURE CASE
The New York Times, November 2, 2001. By Jane Fritsch with Katherine E. Finkelstein
A Manhattan judge dismissed all charges yesterday against Oliver Jovanovic, a Columbia University doctoral student accused five years ago of the sexual torture of a woman he met on the Internet. The dismissal was requested "in the interest of justice" by the office of the Manhattan district attorney...Mr. Callan, the defense lawyer, said, "I read it as a prosecutor who doesn't have any faith in the credibility of her complaining witness." He said he had planned to present evidence showing that the woman was not the naive innocent she said she was, but instead was a "committed sadomasochist" with a history of lying about encounters with men. "Our position was that her injuries were, in fact, inflicted by her sadomasochistic boyfriend,"...

PROSECUTORS SHOULD RESIGN IN SHAME
The New York Post, November 2, 2001. By Steve Dunleavy
There are two forms of rape. The first is the obvious and unimaginable violence that deprives people of their humanity. The second form of rape is when you are stripped naked of any kind of civil rights, held up to contempt and put in prison when the world knows you are innocent...

OLLIE BEATS THE RAP IN 'CYBERSEX' CASE
The New York Post, November 2, 2001. By Laura Italiano
The case was tossed by state Supreme Court Justice Rena Uviller after prosecutors announced, without warning, that Jovanovic's accuser was too emotionally unstable to proceed...

THE FIRST TRIAL JUDGE WAS OVER HIS HEAD
The Village Voice, November 1, 2001. By Nat Hentoff
The unavoidable question [for the DA] is how he can continue in fairness to prosecute Oliver Jovanovic after his office has offered to drop the case in return for time served and some admission of guilt...No further negotiations were entered into because Jovanovic refused to plead guilty to anything. The prosecution denies the plea was offered, but that's a spin. When Jovanovic turned it down, the prosecution said this was only a speculative offer. I have confirmed it was actually made...

NEW JUDGE TO PRESIDE IN RETRIAL OF '98 INTERNET SEX ABUSE CASE
The New York Times, August 17, 2001. By Katherine E. Finkelstein
A judge who was sharply criticized for the way he handled the case of a Columbia University student charged with sexual torture said yesterday that he would not be available to handle a retrial of the case...the trial before the new judge, Rena K. Uviller, might now be postponed two months.

WACKO STILL WIPING EGG OFF HIS FACE
New York Post, August 17, 2001. By Steve Dunleavy
Judge William "Wacko" Wetzel recusing himself in the cybersex rape that never happened is a little like me saying I can't fight Mike Tyson tonight because I have to go to the ballet...

THE BIG CITY: PROSECUTORS NEVER NEED TO APOLOGIZE
The New York Times, July 27, 2001. By John Tierney
If the prosecutors faced the prospect of paying for every day an innocent defendant spent behind bars...would prosecutors in Manhattan still be so determined to retry Oliver Jovanovic, the Columbia University student whose first trial on sexual assault charges generated accusations of unfair prosecution? In theory, prosecutors are accountable to voters. In practice, that doesn't seem to be much of a deterrent...

QUESTIONS HOVER IN INTERNET SEX ABUSE CASE
The New York Times (front page), May 18, 2001. By Laura Mansnerus and Katherine E. Finkelstein
Public attention has faded in the case of a Columbia University graduate student accused of preying on an undergraduate he met on the Internet, and so have pieces of the case...

JUDGE POSTPONES RETRIAL IN INTERNET SEX ABUSE CASE
The New York Times, May 11, 2001. By Katherine E. Finkelstein
A Manhattan judge yesterday postponed the retrial of a Columbia University graduate student...prosecutors asked Justice William A. Wetzel of State Supreme Court to put off the retrial of the graduate student, Oliver Jovanovic, until September, saying that the 25- year-old woman had become increasingly reluctant to testify..."We were actually contemplating a dismissal of the case," an assistant district attorney, Lanita Hobbs, told Justice Wetzel.

DEFENDANT IN INTERNET SEX ABUSE CASE REJECTS PLEA BARGAIN
The New York Times, December 14, 2000. By Laura Mansnerus
Oliver Jovanovic, the Columbia University graduate student charged with kidnapping and sexually abusing a young woman he met over the Internet, rejected any possibility of a plea bargain yesterday, choosing instead to go through a new trial and risk a sentence of life in prison...

DEAL PROPOSED FOR DEFENDANT IN NET SEX CASE
The New York Times, November 22, 2000. By Katherine E. Finkelstein
Manhattan prosecutors have proposed a plea bargain with no further jail time for a Columbia University graduate student facing a new trial...

OUTRAGE AS OLLIE GETS OLD JUDGE FOR NEW TRIAL
New York Post, September 21, 2000. By Laura Italiano
Accused "cybersex fiend" Oliver Jovanovic's case will be retried by the same judge who was slammed by an appeals court for making "egregious" errors during the first trial...

DA'S CZARINA IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL
New York Post, July 7, 2000. By Steve Dunleavy
Linda Fairstein, the obsessed Czarina of the Manhattan District Attorney's Sex Crimes Unit should quit while she's behind. Yesterday the force of my chin hitting my chest almost broke bones when I heard she wanted to retry Oliver Jovanovic, the 33-year-old microbiologist Fairstein crucified in what became known as the cybersex trial...

CYBERSEX OLLIE NOW FACED WITH A NEW TRIAL
New York Post, July 7, 2000. By Kenneth Lovett, Steve Dunleavy and Laura Italiano
The Manhattan district attorney's office said yesterday it will retry the case of accused cybersex fiend Oliver Jovanovic after the state's top court declined to reinstate his conviction...

COURT OF APPEALS UPHOLDS DISMISSAL OF "CYBERSEX" CASE IN INTERESTS OF JUSTICE
July 6, 2000.
New York's highest court upheld the overturning of the controversial "cybersex" case verdict, finding that the Appellate Division had reversed the conviction of Oliver Jovanovic in the "interests of justice"...

SWORD AND SHIELD
New York Magazine, January 24, 2000. By Maya Dollarhide & Robert Lennon
When does protection for the victim become a weapon against the defendant? Ask Oliver Jovanovic, whose overturned conviction tests the limits of the so-called Rape Shield...

A NOVEL CASE YOU WOULDN'T READ ABOUT
The Age, Jan. 23, 2000. By Roger Franklin
If she wasn't so busy pretending not to be embarrassed, celebrity author and sex-crimes prosecutor Linda Fairstein would have no choice but to acknowledge that the strange case of Oliver Jovanovic has all the makings of a very good book...

'CYBERSEX' SUSPECT DOUBTS PROSECUTOR'S MOTIVES
APBnews.com, Jan. 10, 2000. By Amy Worden
In her spare time, prosecutor Linda Fairstein churns out crime novels, based in part on her experiences as chief of the sex crimes division of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office...

'CYBERFIEND' RIPS PROSECUTOR SAYS SHE WIELDED POI$ON PEN
New York Post, January 10, 2000. By Frankie Edozien
Among Jovanovic's supporters at a press conference was the grandmother of his alleged victim -- who described the woman as a liar and a "very cold person."...The alleged victim's grandmother and aunt were on hand to show their support for Jovanovic...

FAMILY OF ACCUSER IN "CYBERSEX" HOAX CALLS FOR CASE TO BE THROWN OUT
Press Release, January 9, 2000.
In his first media appearance since his conviction was overturned, "cybersex" defendant Oliver Jovanovic was embraced today by the accuser's family who flew here to stand by his side and called for the case to be thrown out... "We know her well, and we know what she said about Oliver was just another of her fabrications. She has made false accusations before, and this is another one of them," said Fay Webster, the accuser's grandmother...

FORGET FICTION, FAIRSTEIN, STICK TO THE FACTS
New York Post, December 24, 1999. By Steve Dunleavy
Oliver Jovanovic, bizarrely accused of torturing and sexually abusing "Madame X," a 24-karat wacko...

CYBERSEX RULING STRIKES A BLOW FOR BILL OF RIGHTS
New York Daily News, December 23, 1999. By Sidney Zion
We have lost our way when we decide that the role of the criminal courts is to protect the accuser, not the accused. This was the fundamental message delivered by the Appellate Division in reversing the conviction of Oliver Jovanovic, the so-called cybersex fiend of Columbia University...

JAILED CYBERSEX SUSPECT WILL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
New York Daily News, December 23, 1999. By Barbara Ross
Oliver Jovanovic, the Columbia University doctoral student accused of kidnapping and sexually torturing an Internet pen pal from Barnard College, will be sprung from jail today to spend Christmas with his jubilant family...

TWO JURORS SAY E-MAILS WOULD HAVE HAD IMPACT
New York Post, December 23, 1999. By Angela Mosconi
Two cybersex-case jurors who sent Oliver Jovanovic to prison said their verdict "absolutely" would have been different if they had seen...

TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE WILL AT LAST BE REVEALED
New York Post, December 22, 1999. By Steve Dunleavy
In the case of Oliver Jovanovic, the wheels of justice turned with the speed of molasses - but yesterday things sped up...

N.Y. COURT OF APPEALS OVERTURNS PEOPLE V. JOVANOVIC
Court TV Online, December 21, 1999. By Appellate Division, First Department
We conclude that the trial court's rulings erroneously withheld from the jury a substantial amount of highly relevant, admissible evidence. Furthermore, these errors were of constitutional dimension ...The court's erroneous preclusion of the e-mail messages and other relevant, admissible evidence from the jury's consideration was particularly egregious...

JUSTICE TAKES A HOLIDAY FOR REAL CYBER-SEX VICTIM
New York Post, November 26, 1999. By Steve Dunleavy
Another Thanksgiving in jail. For the second year in a row for Oliver Jovanovic, justice took a vacation on this holiday weekend for giving thanks. The Manhattan district attorney's office gave, all right -- it gave Jovanovic 15 years to life for a kidnap-torture-rape that never happened...

CYBERSEX VICTIM'S KIN: SHE'S A LIAR
New York Post, July 26, 1999. By Steve Dunleavy
It might turn out to be the biggest railroad job since the Union Pacific...

NIGHTMARES OF THE NET
World Net Daily – Internet News, March 2, 1999. By Lisa Ronthal
A decision is currently pending...

WACKO WETZEL LEFT CYBERSEX LAWYER DEFENSELESS
New York Post, May 30, 1998. By Steve Dunleavy
Defense lawyer Jack Litman might as well have been getting a suntan in Florida during this farce of a cybersex trial...

OLIVER JOVANOVIC: FIRST SACRIFICE OF THE DIGITAL AGE
La Jornada –, May 19, 1998. By Sandro Cohen
This is the case of Oliver Jovanovic, a computer and cyber enthusiast...

DON'T SHIELD JURIES FROM THE TRUTH IN SEX CASES
The Wall Street Journal, April 20, 1998. By Cathy Young
Last week, Oliver Jovanovic, a 31-year-old doctoral candidate in microbiology at Columbia University...

OBSERVERS SAY JUDGE DOOMED DEFENSE
New York Post, April 17, 1998. By Ann Bollinger
From its explosive beginning to is stunning end, the cybersex trial of Oliver Jovanovic has been the talk of the Manhattan Criminal Courts building - and not just because of the titillating subject matter. Spectators - including many lawyers - were intrigued by the courtroom theatrics between acting Supreme Court Justice William Wetzel and defense lawyer Jack Litman...

DOCTORS REBUT ACCUSER IN INTERNET TORTURE TRIAL
The New York Times, April 4, 1998. By John Sullivan
Defense experts testified Friday that there was virtually no medical evidence to support a woman's claim that she was tortured by Oliver Jovanovic, a Columbia University graduate student whom she met on the Internet...

CYBERSEX ACCUSER ADMITS HER STORIES DON'T JIBE
New York Post, March 25, 1998. By Ann Bollinger
The lawyer for cybersex defendant Oliver Jovanovic yesterday continued to hack away at the testimony of the woman who claims the computer nerd kidnapped and tortured her. Hammering at apparent inconsistencies...

DEFENSE IN SEXUAL TORTURE CASE SAYS COURT LET THE ACCUSER LIE
The New York Times, March 24, 1998. By John Sullivan
Defense lawyers for Oliver Jovanovic, the graduate student accused of kidnapping and sexually abusing a woman he met on the Internet, claimed yesterday that the judge and prosecutors had allowed the accuser to lie on the stand...

MADAME X BELONGS AT THE CO(U)RT THEATRE
New York Post, March 18, 1998. By Steve Dunleavy
The mysterious Madame X racked up some gigantic frequent-flier miles yesterday. In 24 hours, she went from Buffalo to Britain and back to Buffalo. And she didn't even have to get on a plane. On Monday, her accent...