Conviction in Major Obscenity Trial

A man who went by the alias "Max Hardcore" has been found guilty of 20 counts of obscenity violations in a Florida federal court:

A Tampa federal jury that watched more than eight hours of graphic and violent pornography in court decided that the movies violated community standards for decency.

Jurors on Thursday convicted the producer, Paul Little, of 10 counts of selling obscene material on the Internet and 10 counts of shipping it to Tampa in the mail.

The 51-year-old Little - who calls himself Max Hardcore - produced and starred in the films. They included scenes of urinating, vomiting and violently dominating women.

Little's attorneys argued that the films were covered by the First Amendment. They vowed to appeal.

The case will certainly present some interesting issues on appeal. While the material in question sounds horrible based upon the various accounts in the media, it is very difficult to judge particular material with the vague standards of our obscenity law. Where protected speech ends and unprotected obscenity begins is a difficult question. And it's a question that the Supreme Court has provided a series of unsatisfactory answers which have offered lower courts very little guidance.

Comments

[Jim]

To quote Larry Flynt:

Murder is illegal. But you take a picture of somebody committing the act of murder, they'll put you on the cover of Newsweek. You might even win a Pulitzer Prize.

And yet sex is legal. Everybody's doin' it, or wants to be. Yet you take a picture of two people in the act of sex, or of just a woman's naked body and they'll put you in jail.

Now, I have a message for all you good, moral, Christian people who are complaining that breasts and vaginas are obscene: Don't complain to me. Complain to the manufacturer. Okay? And although Jesus told us not to judge, I know you will anyway. So judge sanely. Judge with your eyes open.