SEX TOYS BAN UPHELD
BIRMINGHAM, AL – Overturning a lower court, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, has ruled that the Constitution does not include a right to sexual privacy and that the State of Alabama has the right to ban the sale of sex toys.
“If the people of Alabama in time decide that a prohibition on sex toys is misguided, or ineffective, or just plain silly, they can repeal the law and be finished with the matter,” said the court. “[However], if we craft a new fundamental right in order to invalidate the law,” said the court, “we would be bound to give that right full force and effect in all future cases including, for example, those involving adult incest, prostitution, obscenity, and the like.”
The court was careful to say that the state law bans only the sale of sex toys, not their possession and doesn’t regulate other items including condoms or virility drugs.
“The Alabama statute proscribes a relatively narrow bandwidth of activity,” U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr. wrote.
In a dissenting opinion, Circuit Judge Rosemary Barkett said the decision was based on the “erroneous foundation” that adults don’t have a right to consensual sexual intimacy and that private acts can be made a crime in the name of promoting “public morality.”
Sherri Williams, an adult novelty retailer who filed the lawsuit with seven other women and two men, called the decision “depressing,” and “just ludicrous.”
From KGTV, CH 10 News, San Diego, 7/29/04
http://www.thesandiegochannel.com/news/3591874/detail.html
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HUSTLER HOLLYWOOD CHALLENGES ORDINANCE
LEXINGTON, KY – The newly opened Hustler Hollywood store here has filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging a zoning ordinance which specifies that if a store sells even a single adult item the business falls under the city’s adult zoning restrictions. The store is asking for a restraining order against the ordinance and promises to immediately appeal if the order is not granted. First Amendment attorney Paul Cambria, who represents store owner Jimmy Flynt in the case, says that Lexington’s unrealistic statute makes every bookstore, every gas station, and every place else that sells Penthouse come under adult zoning.
“Hustler operates its stores so that they are not adult stores within the usual and typical definition that you find of ‘adult store’,” says Cambria. “For instance, in Los Angeles, it’s 49/51 percent [of adult compared to non-adult items]; Ft. Lauderdale, 49/51 percent; San Diego, 15 percent; that kind of thing.”
One problem the Hustler Hollywood store might have if it were zoned as adult is that it is located near an interstate highway exchange. Lexington’s statue forbids adult stores near interstate highway exchanges.
From Mark Kernes, Adult Video News, 7/28/04
http://www.avn.com/index.php?Primary_Navigation=Articles&Action=
View_Article&Content_ID=184824
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STORE VERSUS CITY ON PEEP-SHOW BOOTHS
WARREN, MI – Bookworld, an adult store here that has 30 video peep-show booths, is suing the city over a new ordinance. Among other regulations, the ordinance requires stores to take down privacy doors. Bookworld says the ordinance violates freedom of speech.
“This is an attempt to control people’s comfort levels while watching these videos and force my client out of business,” said Allan Rubin, attorney for Bookworld.
Warren adopted the ordinance after neighbors complained to the city about used condoms and syringes in Bookworld’s parking lot. The new ordinance also requires employees to be licensed and undergo a background check to identify convicted child molesters and rapists. Rubin said Bookworld does not employ any child molesters or rapists.
“My client is willing to work with the community,” he said. “In a perfect world, Warren would have picked up the phone, and we would have worked something out.”
From Mary Owen, The Detroit Free Press, 7/27/04
http://www.freep.com/news/locmac/book27_20040727.htm
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RESEARCHER NAILED FOR BROWSING THE WEB
DOVER, DE -- Alexander W. Mull has resigned his position as a legislative researcher for the General Assembly here. He had faced an administrative charge of violating the state’s acceptable-use policy for Internet use of State computers, a charge whose penalties can include dismissal.
The case against him was built using a range of government resources one would associate with major criminal or terrorism cases. Following an anonymous tip that Mull may have downloaded adult entertainment, the state Department of Technology and Information requested the Internet protocol address assigned to Mull’s computer. The Division of Research supplied the IP address, and the technology department retrieved a log of Mull’s Web browsing activity. The state Auditor then did a report of the investigation of some 4,316 pages containing sexually explicit Websites. Some of the Websites had “inferences” of child pornography, the report said, so the state police’s High Technology Crimes Unit was contacted.
A subsequent police analysis of Mull’s office and home computers found no child pornography, so no criminal charges were ultimately filed. Sleep well, Delaware. Your computer cops are on the job.
From J.L. Miller, The Delaware News-Journal, 7/28/04
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2004/07/28pornonstatecomp.html
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JUDGE RULES IN FILE SWAPPER CASE
NEW YORK, NY -- U.S. District Judge Denny Chin has ruled in favor of the recording industry in a decision that clarifies what legal methods copyright holders may use when hunting down people who are trading files on peer-to-peer networks. Chin said while file swapping “qualifies as speech” to some degree, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) had overcome the hurdle posed by the First Amendment and could compel “disclosure of the Doe defendants’ identities.” Cablevision, which provides broadband Internet access in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, can now be required to divulge the identities of its subscribers sued over copyright violations.
Paul Levy, an attorney at the nonprofit group Public Citizen, said, “the nice thing about the ruling is that (the judge) recognizes the First Amendment interests at stake here and he applies a balancing test.” Levy, who filed a friend-of-the-court brief opposing the RIAA, said that Chin’s analysis ensures that companies filing a copyright infringement lawsuit must prove they have a real case and aren’t merely on a fishing expedition for someone’s name.
From Declan McCullagh, CNET News.com, 7/27/04
http://news.com.com/Judge%3A+RIAA+can+unmask+file+swappers/2100-1027_3-5285605.html?tag=nefd.hed
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ENCOURAGING RULING FOR ADULT VIDEO STORE
NEW ALBANY, IN – In April, X-Press reported on a lawsuit by Danny Embry, the owner of New Albany DVD, an adult video store, against a business ordinance that seemed to unconstitutionally target his store. (See “Adult Store Vs City In Legal Maneuvers,” X-Press, April 30, 2004) The chain of events included an inspector who refused a timely inspection, a moratorium on adult businesses just as the store tried to open, and an enactment of a new ordinance after the store met other conditions.
And now for an update: Federal Judge Sarah Evans Barker, refusing the city’s request to dismiss the case, has cleared the way for legal action to continue in both federal and state courts. She said the city’s actions against New Albany DVD could be viewed as “bad faith prosecution” and a possible violation of Danny Embry’s First Amendment rights. Judge Barker said she would handle the First Amendment issues in her court, while the legal issues related to the city’s planning and zoning procedures will be handled by Floyd County Circuit Court.
From Ben Z. Hershberg, The Louisville Courier-Journal, 7/27/04
http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/07/27in/A1-dvd0727-3785.html
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NO LINK BETWEEN PORN AND CRIMES, SAYS JUDGE
ANCHORAGE, AK -- Superior Court Judge Stephanie Joannides has banned mention of pornography by the prosecution in the murder trial of Branden Ling. Prosecutor Adrienne Bachman had argued for weeks that describing Ling’s immersion in hard-core porn was necessary to help jurors understand how a 16-year-old boy with no criminal record could conceive of the terrible things done to victim Delaney Zutz. However, Joannides said experts strongly disagree about whether there is a connection between pornography and sexual crimes. She said there is no “nexus,” no demonstrable, relevant connection between Ling’s interest in porn and what happened to Delaney. Without that link, telling the jury that Ling liked pornography becomes simple character evidence, offered to suggest he was a bad person, more likely than others to commit the murder, she said. Such so-called propensity evidence is more prejudicial than helpful to a jury, said Judge Joannides.
From Sheila Toomey, Anchorage Daily News, 7/28/04
http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/5351429p-5289936c.html
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TERRORISM TASK FORCE QUESTIONS ACTIVISTS
DENVER, CO -- Police and sheriff’s deputies assigned to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) have questioned a dozen or so activists at homes in Denver and at a workplace in Fort Collins.
“JTTFs in several states were tasked to conduct interviews of persons who reasonably could be expected to have specific details about people or groups planning criminal acts during a number of upcoming national events,” said FBI spokesman Joe Parris.
“The FBI does not conduct investigations or interviews designed to discourage anyone from exercising their First Amendment right to assemble and peacefully protest,” Parris said. “However, violent criminal acts are not protected by the Constitution, and the FBI has a duty to prevent such acts and to identify and bring to justice those who commit them,” he said.
However, activists who were questioned in Colorado said they suspect they were questioned because they have participated in protests, including protests of war, economic globalization and a recent Denver police shooting.
From Karen Abbott, Rocky Mountain News, 7/29/04
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,
DRMN_21_3072366,00.html
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UpComing Events
AUG 1 -- X-CON 2 -- LOS ANGELES www.xxx-con.com
AUG 8 -- Fit For a King, John C. Holmes’ 60th Birthday -- Hollywood, CA (818) 501-6139
AUG 13-15 – Internext -- Westin Diplomat, Hollywood, Florida – www.Internext-expo.com
AUG 31-SEPT 2 -- Gentlemen’s Club Owners Expo and Exotic Dancer Fan Fair, Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas www.ExoticDancer.com
SEPT 21-22 -- Home Entertainment Retail Expo, Baltimore, www.homeentertainmentevents.com
OCT 10 – AdultCon, Los Angeles, CA www.adultcon.com
JAN 6-9, 2004 -- AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, Las Vegas, www.homeentertainmentevents.com
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