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Woman denies role in sex slave case

SEGUIN, Texas, Nov. 20 -- A 49-year-old grandmother has denied charges she abducted a younger woman and made her a sex slave for herself and her husband in their rural Texas home. Diane James told a jury today the 35-year-old woman was a willing partner, and when they picked her up, 'she asked if we wanted to party.

' The former San Antonio bank trust officer is charged with aggravated kidnapping and could receive up to 99 years in prison if she is convicted. The alleged victim told the jury Wednesday she was kidnapped off the streets of nearby San Antonio in April and held as a sex slave in the James home, where she was stripped naked and chained in a leather harness. Diane James' husband, David, died in a shootout with law officers about 24 hours after the alleged sex slave tried to flee. Police say he was chasing her with a gun when he was fatally shot by deputies. During her testimony today, James said the woman was drunk and had nowhere to go the day they picked her up in San Antonio. James said: 'She couldn't wait to get into our van. She asked if we wanted to party.' James said their house was never locked, and the woman was always within easy reach of one of five phones in the house if she wanted to call for help. James said, 'The only thing she complained about was that her chains were too tight.' She testified she had driven to San Antonio to buy 'new chains and padlocks' when her husband was killed. She said when she returned to find an ambulance in front of their home, she feared he was inside. ---

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