Feds Charge Porn Producer With Selling Adult Content to Adults

[wildwildwest]

Sorry if this already been posted, but I don't see it anywhere...

Feds Charge Porn Producer With Selling Adult Content to Adults

Federal prosecutors in the nation's capital this week charged Los Angeles adult-film producer John Stagliano with seven felonies for selling his films to Washington, D.C., residents over the internet.

Stagliano, also known as "Buttman," wasn't producing kid porn, selling to kids, or forcing his films on anyone who didn't want them. So it's heartening to see that in the middle of a war, and under the ever-present threat of terrorism, the Bush administration can find the resources to target someone for offering titles like Milk Nymphos and Storm Squirters 2: Target Practice to the public.

From adult news site Xbiz.com:

Al Gelbard, who represents Stagliano, told XBIZ that his client's case raises interesting constitutional questions.

"The charges are what they are; I disagree with them politically and morally,” Gelbard said. "It's a waste of the government's resources. We're very confident that we'll prevail at trial." ...

Gelbard plans to make a pretrial motion to have the court define what the appropriate community is when relating to alleged obscene works delivered via the internet. 1st Amendment attorney Louis Sirkin filed a similar motion in the Extreme Associates obscenity case. Gelbard said that he expects Sirkin to be involved on Stagliano's defense team in some capacity. The courts have not definitively ruled on the identity of who comprises the internet community.

A 1973 Supreme Court decision defines "obscenity" in visual media as content depicting "patently offensive sexual conduct" appealing "to a prurient interest" and lacking "serious artistic, literary, political, or scientific value." Under that ruling, local standards in the community where the content is purchased apply, so Stagliano's films have to offend Washingtonians for him to be convicted -- assuming the case gets that far.

If convicted, Stagliano faces prison time and $7 million in fines. Prosecutors are also demanding that Stagliano turn over all "original masters and copies" of the movies in question. The indictment (.pdf) doesn't say what they want with them.

[wildwildwest]

I find it amazing that 69 people have read this and not one comment or response.

:nobody: ??

I posted it because I believed it to be an important, relevant topic on this board. Perhaps I was wrong.

[basschick]

i had already read about it, and there's not much to say. he's not the first person to be charged with obscenity recently although he is noteworthy due to his longevity in the industry. stagliano will be talking more about this on the 21st.

btw, if you want to see a collection of articles and read about the case, you can go here http://www.defendourporn.org/