He tried to take his fate out of a jury’s hands.
Accused-perv cookbook author Joseph Yannai — on trial in Brookln federal court for allegedly fondling au pairs he lured to his Westchester home — attempted suicide as jurors were about to start deliberations, officials said.
It marks the second time since Yannai's arrest last year that the vanity book publisher and writer has tried to take his own life.
"He has a propensity to do this — he's done it once before," Judge Edward Korman said during a hearing about the development today.
The suicide attempt caused a postponement of the juror’s work.
Yannai, who lives in a $800,000 Pound Ridge home with his wife, was unconscious in a hospital after an overdose of Valium and amphetamines, according to physicians and officials.
He had been free on bail, but the judge ordered that he be taken into custody once he is healthy enough to leave the hospital.
Korman also said that he would proceed with ordering the jury to deliberate on the case in Yannai's absence.
Federal prosecutors say Yannai hired young women who were recent high school graduates from countries such as Hungary, Mexico, and Denmark, and took advantage of their "hopefulness" and "naivete" - using fear and psychological coercion to sexually abuse them.
The young women — most between the ages of 18 and 22 — were hired from au pair web sites to serve as editorial assistants for Yannai's work writing books about the travel and food industries and to assist with household chores between 2003 and 2009
During their employment, he required the young women to be scantily clad, forego wearing bras, pressured them to have sex, and groped them, prosecutors say.
Defense attorneys say the encounters were consensual.
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