Short reprieve in slavery case

NEW YORK, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- A New York man convicted with his wife of enslaving two immigrant servants has been allowed to remain free for two months longer.

Mahender Sabhnani, 51, of Muttontown on Long Island had been ordered to surrender Monday, Newsday reported. But a federal appeals court in Manhattan, in a ruling Friday, gave him a reprieve while his lawyers appeal whether the judge in his trial gave the jury erroneous instructions.

Celebrity lawyer and writer Alan Dershowitz and his brother Nathan are representing Sabhnani. Prosecutors say another federal appeals court has already settled the issue.

Sabhnani's wife, Varsha, was incarcerated immediately when she and her husband were convicted last September. But a federal judge gave Sabhnani, who received a shorter four-year sentence, time to transfer the operation of his perfume business to his daughter and to see his son graduate from high school and enter college.

The couple were convicted of holding the two women prisoner. Varsha Sabhnani was found to have physically abused them.