Devil Escapes Justice

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Pair's pleas end sex assault case - Crime/Safety - NewsObserver.com.

A 2008 Durham case marked by sensational accounts of Satanism and sadomasochism appears to have wound to a close with best-interest misdemeanor pleas by a man first charged with rape and kidnapping, and by a woman charged with letting those crimes happen.

Joseph Scott Craig, 26, and wife Joy Suzanne Johnson, 31, have entered Alford pleas, under which defendants do not admit guilt but concede that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them.

Craig's Alford pleas came on two counts of assault inflicting serious injury and one count of assault on a female, Vann said. Johnson pleaded to being an accessory. Both received consecutive 60-day suspended sentences and a year of supervised probation.

Johnson, a former Durham County Democratic Party vice chairwoman, stepped down from her post after she was charged in July 2008. Diana Palmer, the county party's former first vice chairwoman, had accessory charges against her dismissed in District Court in January.