A hurriedly-burned 8-minute CD-R repeatedly malfunctioned in John Stagliano’s obscenity trial today, Reason.com reports, possibly negating two of seven counts against the eminent pornographer.
FBI Special Agent Daniel Bradley downloaded the trailer for Belladonna’s “Fetish Fanatic 5” (distributed by Stagliano’s company, Evil Angel) in a Washington D.C. bar in January, 2008, burned it on a CD-R, and declared it was “impossible” to recall the contents of the trailer once the recording was deemed “unreliable” in Judge Richard Leon’s courtroom.
Counts Three and Seven refer to transmitting obscene material across state lines by means of an “interactive computer service” (Count Three) in such a way (Count Seven) that it would be available to minors.
Judge Leon is waiting until Thursday morning to decide if the two counts out of seven should be dismissed.
Reason correspondent Richard Abowitz declares Judge Leon “an embarrassment to watch” with regard to the jurist’s handling of the public’s and media’s right to know what is going on in the trial. Video monitors are placed out of view, audio headsets are stingily parceled out, and the questionnaire used to select the jury was never released.
Director Joey Silvera, whose “Storm Squirters 2” was one of the three Evil Angel films (the other was “Milk Nymphos”) to be named in the indictment, said Tuesday that the adult industry was not rallying to Stagliano’s defense and offered an explanation.
“No one has taken this prosecution seriously,” he said. “Because it is so wrong. But being in court and watching what is going on in this court, I am scared for him.”
AVN has also sent a reporter, Mark Kernes, to the trial, and Kernes writes passionately and voluminously about the procedures, presenting them in rich historical context and suffused with his own libertarian views.
It is for this reason, the love of brevity and attempts at impartiality, and the fact that Reason’s Abowitz has a Twitter feed that I am following the Reason coverage instead.
Previously on Porn Valley Observed: Someone else’s pornography
See also: Defend Our Porn, Richard Abowitz on Twitter, Reason.com
Leave a Reply