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Jury Dismissed In 'Pumping Party' Trial After Allegations Of Leaks

POSTED: 7:27 a.m. EDT May 7, 2003
UPDATED: 9:55 a.m. EDT May 7, 2003

Jury selection is under way again in the trial of two people charged in the death of a woman who reportedly attended a silicone injection party.

Donnie Hendrix Selection hit a snag when the judge dismissed the original jury after hearing that one of the jurors was talking to the media about the case.

Donnie Hendrix (pictured, right) and Mark Hawkins are facing charges of manslaughter and practicing medicine without a license for the death of Vera Lawrence. She attended one of their alleged "pumping parties" on March 2001 and died as a result of silicone injections.

Prosecutors say suspects Hawkins and Hendrix lived in Greenville, S.C. They allegedly ran a traveling, cut-rate "body-sculpting" business that catered to transgender people and straight women seeking to enhance their bodies.

The two are romantically involved and lived together for many years before they were jailed in this case. Hendrix was born a man, but underwent professional surgery and treatment and lives as a woman.

Defense attorneys say they will argue that Lawrence's death was a coincidence. They say she was killed by unrelated medical problems or the cumulative effect of years of illegal silicone treatments at the hands of people other than Hawkins and Hendrix.

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