Male prostitute testifies judge paid him to have sex

By KEITH ELDRIDGE and KOMO-TV STAFF

(Editor's Note: This story contains explicit material.)

TACOMA -- A young, self-admitted prostitute testified Monday that he was paid to have sex with a Tacoma attorney who has since been elected a Pierce County superior court judge.

Michael Hecht is charged with soliciting a prostitute and making a death threat.

The judge and his attorney have stated there are good reasons why Hecht was driving around Antique Row -- he was an antique lover. But Joseph Pfeiffer testifiedthe reason Hecht drove around was to have sex.

Pfeiffer is one of two star witnesses for the government, and the fate of Hecht rests on whether the jury believes Pfeiffer when he says he was paid to have sex with Hecht 8-10 times.

Pfeiffer says he would hang out on Antique Row and Hecht would come and pick him up in his car. He claims the two would go to a law office in north Tacoma where they would have sex after business hours.

"As you sit here today, do you remember what sex acts occurred that first time you were with the defendant at his law office?" the prosecutor asked Pfeiffer.

"Masturbation and oral," Pfeiffer replied, adding they would do both acts to each other.

Pfeiffer says he was with Hecht as the two went looking for Joseph Hesketh, another male prostitute who claims Hecht made a death threat against him. But in court Monday, Pfeiffer didn't mention the death threat, saying only that Hecht was angry.

Pfeiffer says at one time, he changed his story to say the sex wasn't for money, but now says that was a lie. The state hopes to wrap up its side of the trial Tuesday, when it's Judge Hecht's turn to present a defense.