He was essentially saying that, ever since George W Bush took office, it's been inevitable that federal obscenity prosecutions would start taking place. 9/11 essentially put a hold on those prosecutions for a while. "They still have a year" refers to the fact that, regardless of this year's election, the Bush administration will be in office until January 20, 2009. So, they still have another year in which they can pursue obscenity convictions.
Shake for me girl... I wanna be your backdoorman ! 2776 Posts 10/07
Posted - Jan 8 2008 : 7:45PM
I still have questions. No appeal? Aren't there a ton of adult stores in Phoenix? Isn't this shit malicious prosecution? Wonder what types of people the jury was made of? Do they have any idea what they have done to the constitutional rights of the defendants? All this makes me want to puke. The number of obscenity cases found here is astounding to me. http://www.avn.com/index.cfm?objectID=693491A5-188B-39E4-BC2704E71ED9586F&catid=351EB89C-D95A-4469-CCE7B007F4A27C76&archives=true "Censorship is the first step towards dictatorship !" Honest Ed
Did you miss the part where Ken Graham posted above? (five_star) This persecution has ruined him financially. They have nothing left to be able to pay for an appeal. Even if some angel were to pay for their defense what are they to gain from it? They were fortunate to avoid jail time which is a victory in itself. Their business had been ruined as a result of this trial. A successful appeal wouldn't help restore their business and make up for lost revenue and customers. An appeal would be a very lengthy expensive process and prolong the immense stress of this whole ordeal. So what's to gain from an appeal?
Shake for me girl... I wanna be your backdoorman ! 2776 Posts 10/07
Posted - Jan 20 2008 : 8:28PM
I sure wish I had access to how the defense handled this case. I looked up brick and mortar stores in Phoenix and there are dozens. Isn't part of the obcsenity challenge a deal about community standards. A tour of the stores by the jury might have been an eye opener. Or am I way off the actual topic there. "Censorship is the first step towards dictatorship !" Honest Ed
backdoorman- What you are referring to is called “comparable material”. Typically in an obscenity case, the defense tries to demonstrate that the charged material is similar to other material, which is widely accepted in the community. Our lawyers attempted to introduce all sorts of comparable material purchased in Phoenix. This included movies purchased at adult stores, hotel rooms, record stores, lingerie stores, electronic stores and even at the local airport (owned and run buy the government). We also tried to show that the allegedly “illegal” movies could be viewed online at public and college libraries throughout Arizona. We even tried to show that at the same time the Department of Justice was bringing charges against us, the DOJ was supervising our largest competitor who was in bankruptcy. This competitor was selling the exact same movies we were indicted for. Unfortunately the judge rejected ALL of this evidence. The only comparable evidence we were allowed to show the jury was a few pictures from Hustler Magazine.
Shake for me girl... I wanna be your backdoorman ! 2776 Posts 10/07
Posted - Jan 22 2008 : 8:48AM
THATS JUST WHAT I THOUGHT ! You got fucked by the judge, the prosecutor and the jury. Hell maybe not the jury as they got fucked too by the judge. OUr legal system at times is nothing more than a kangaroo court. I feel even more validated in my outrage over this shit. "Censorship is the first step towards dictatorship !" Honest Ed
During the trial an FBI agent testified about how Five Star was selected. He said that his assignment was to find a seller of JM DVDs not located in California. Evidently they felt California's community standards were not suitable for this type of prosecution. The FBI agent did a Google search for JM DVDs. The 1st Google listing was JM Productions so he went to the next result. That was a company altready under investigation so he went to the third result which was Five Star (in Arizona). Some have found it interesting that the government made no effort whatsoever to determine the community standards of Arizona before (or after) they pressed charges.The sentencing hearing is set for Feb 25. The probation department has recommended a fine, 2 years corporate probation and of course forefeiure of the domain name (fivestardvd.com)
Shake for me girl... I wanna be your backdoorman ! 2776 Posts 10/07
Posted - Feb 15 2008 : 8:31PM
Thank you for the info. I hope everyone reading this will take this bullshit into account when they go vote in November. Keep us informed if you care to. I feel for you.