just read it

TAMPA - Seven women and five men will decide whether movies distributed by a Hollywood movie producer who uses the name Max Hardcore are criminally obscene, that is, whether they violate the standards of the Tampa area community.

The filmmaker, whose real name is Paul F. Little, faces 10 federal counts of distributing obscene materials through the mail and over the Internet, including videos with titles such as "Golden Guzzlers 7, Euro Edition" and "Fists of Fury 4, Euro Edition." Little's company, MaxWorld Entertainment, is also on trial.

The case is a rare prosecution involving adult-entertainment materials that do not include children. Opening statements are set for today.

Potential jurors were told that if they were selected to judge the case, they would have a duty to view the videos, which include scenes of vomiting, urination and the use of a fist in a sexual act.

Several jury candidates said they would have trouble viewing such scenes, including a woman who said she has a weak stomach and has to leave the room when her niece vomits and a youth minister who said he struggled to overcome a pornography addiction and would have trouble if he had to watch those videos again.

Although prosecutors objected to removing some of the jurors who said they would have difficulty watching the videos, U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew granted defense challenges to their service.

In exercising peremptory challenges, prosecutors removed some jurors involved in publishing who the prosecutors felt might have some "First Amendment issues." They included a magazine editor and a woman whose family owns an African-American newspaper.

Several jury candidates said they had viewed adult materials on the Internet, and at least one of those people was selected to serve on the panel that will decide the case.

Defense attorneys removed jury candidates who said they were active in their churches, and one man who said he occasionally listens to Rush Limbaugh.

Those selected to serve on the jury include two nurses, a pawn shop owner, a Hillsborough County schoolteacher, a retired loan coordinator and an executive assistant for a personal injury lawyer.

Before beginning jury selection, the sides argued over whether jurors will see all 8½ hours of video that are the subject of the indictment handed up last year against Little or whether prosecutors may present about 2½ hours of excerpts. The defense maintains the jury must see the entire production before judging whether it violates federal obscenity standards.

Bucklew said she must view the videos before deciding that issue.

In deciding the case, jurors will be guided by a test designed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 in the case of Miller v. California. The test requires jurors to determine:

Whether "the average person, applying contemporary community standards" would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest;

Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law;

Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Reader Comments
Posted by ( tampadan ) on May 27, 2008 at 1:36 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

You think it would be awkward for a man to be involved in the Porn industry w/ the last name of LITTLE...

Ahh..the Golden Guzzlers collection....timeless!

Are they going to provide private viewing booths for the jurors? Or is it going to be a group sitting? Better keep the lights on either way!

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Posted by ( SMB ) on May 27, 2008 at 2 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

Skip work and watch porn all day. Sounds like a dream come true. How do I sign up?

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Posted by ( danrome1 ) on May 27, 2008 at 2:09 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

Wow, if he plays his cards right he can turn this into a money making venure. Image the titles, "Odor in the court", "Hung jury I, II, & III", "Sequestered by the judge" etc...

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Posted by ( firegrl ) on May 27, 2008 at 2:09 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

suddenly going to jury duty doesn't sound so bad after all...

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Posted by ( nuthnfiner ) on May 27, 2008 at 2:18 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

Our tax dollars hard at work. I want to know the rest of the story. Are the cops sitting around ordering movies they think might be "obscene?" How did they come about these?

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Posted by ( danrome1 ) on May 27, 2008 at 2:27 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

"12 angry men" oh wait, that's take. "11 angry men and 1 woman", "tried by her peers",...

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Posted by ( 3rd_POV ) on May 27, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

Our tax dollars at waste...
The way the government wastes money is far more obscene than any skin flick could hope to be.

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Posted by ( boston85 ) on May 27, 2008 at 2:33 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

im very offended by some of your remarks

im a serious Christian woman here

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Posted by ( jamin ) on May 27, 2008 at 2:40 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

nuthnfiner...On this one I agree with you. What a bleeping waste. These days there's either a massage parlor, porn shop or 'gents' club on every corner it seems. And some of these cops, jurors and maybe the judge has partaken I would bet. Leave the pervs to themselves, just keep 'em away from me.

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Posted by ( motorist ) on May 27, 2008 at 2:40 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

This sounds more like a day at the Improv.

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Posted by ( danrome1 ) on May 27, 2008 at 2:42 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

"boston69- Euro Edition"..

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Posted by ( motorist ) on May 27, 2008 at 2:46 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

Serious Christian man seeking serious Christian woman etc...

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Posted by ( AuroraV ) on May 27, 2008 at 3:05 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

Serious Christian woman reading comments about an obscenity trial. What did you expect woman??...right.

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Posted by ( herb ) on May 27, 2008 at 3:15 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

What a pathetic waste of tax payer resources.

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Posted by ( FloridaYankee ) on May 27, 2008 at 3:28 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

Serious Christian women are apparently drawn to the boom chucka wah wah.

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Posted by ( franco73 ) on May 27, 2008 at 3:44 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

This trial might turn into a good movie-porn that is. I'll just probably fast-forward talking part.

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Posted by ( Landsturm ) on May 27, 2008 at 3:48 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

PEEWEE HERMAN - AKA "PAUL REUBENS" Would love to be on this Jury!!!...Just don't ask to share his popcorn...

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Posted by ( ceibert ) on May 27, 2008 at 4:19 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

I bet a affair begins between a couple people on the Jury! Ah, maybe not.
But that would also be good porn material.

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Posted by ( rocknroll ) on May 27, 2008 at 4:27 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

lol u guys crack me up, too many good posts to even comment lol

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Posted by ( R2DBLOW ) on May 27, 2008 at 4:38 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

"Serious Christian woman reading comments about an obscenity trial. What did you expect woman??...right."

We should be sensitive to those readers who are not familiar with all the varieties of pron out there. God bless.

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Posted by ( Less1 ) on May 27, 2008 at 4:40 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

RLL Sex Appeal loves giving golden brews...who doesnt.

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Posted by ( DougSays ) on May 27, 2008 at 5:02 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

nuthinfiner "Are the cops sitting around ordering movies..."
They probably used undercover agents to penetrate the organization...don't you think?

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Posted by ( drdneast ) on May 27, 2008 at 5:06 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

Here is an administration that encourages torture and waterboarding deciding that watching people urinate and vomit is obscene. All the money laudering businessmen have to be in jail, all the meth labs and grow houses must be busted and all the gangs must be in prison if this is all that is left for the U.S. Attorney's office to prosecute. Reminds me of when they tried Harry Reems for performing in Deep Throat back in the 70's. I'll tell you what is obscene, sending 4,000 soilders to their death over a war that has made Halburton billions.

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Posted by ( luvco ) on May 27, 2008 at 6:01 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

You people must be new if you think boston85 is a Christian woman.

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Posted by ( LorsDeth ) on May 27, 2008 at 6:37 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

Can we place the prosecutor on trial for wasting government money?

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Posted by ( wuzup40 ) on May 27, 2008 at 7:29 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

What idiots would prosecute stuff that people watch in the privacey of their own homes?
only publicity seeking a-- holes, I guess they want to get their selves on tv.
From looking at these emails I would say the jury is in and it says our community standards say leave us alone.
the mail overwelming says you are jerks for bringing this to trial.
this is America, you know.... the land of the free and free speach also last I checked.
seems like you want to make it like Iran, you Talaban Bas*@#8&

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Posted by ( Lopaka ) on May 27, 2008 at 7:33 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

dang, boston85 not a christian woman?!
In high school the church girls were the easiest.

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Posted by ( iamforsure ) on May 27, 2008 at 7:38 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

these comments are great and I agree. the DA will lose this, and if they win expect alot more producers of adult films having charges filed on them. A fist isn't anymore extreme than 2 or 3 guys in a one hole. In fact I think that's even stranger. Viva la Hardcore!!!

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Posted by ( canucind2fish ) on May 27, 2008 at 8:39 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

great now I cant let my 14yr old take his newest copy of Jugs to bible camp this summer.

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Posted by ( Lopaka ) on May 27, 2008 at 9:31 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

I have watched porn, and enjoyed it. Fisting would make me vomit, so I don't watch it. Free country, right?

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Posted by ( ConcernedTampaCitizen ) on May 27, 2008 at 9:35 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

It's no wonder we have such a terrible economy. Is this what our DA has left to prosecute?? What an incredible waste of taxpayers money. Whatever happened to freedom of speach, and of the press?? I am not particularly a big fan of porn, but who cares just how raunchy it is??!! If you don't like it, then don't buy it, or look at it!!! We are supposed to be living in a democracy, not a dictatorship, and not a comunist country either. When I see things like this becoming a legal issue, it makes me think we are headed for one of the latter types of government.
We should be concentrating on some of the more serious issues, like our drug problem, or some of the other serious crimes that are being committed, not this non-sense.

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Posted by ( knighteyes ) on May 27, 2008 at 10:30 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

boston85
“im very offended by some of your remarks im a serious Christian woman here”

If you don’t like what your reading, you don’t have to continue to read it. Same thing true with the videos, if you don’t want to watch it you don’t have to buy it. Freedom of speech people. No minors involved and its consensual adults engaging in acts of sex. Waste of time and taxpayers money.

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Posted by ( Marco ) on May 27, 2008 at 11:06 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

drdneast, what the hell does the war have to do with this? You are such a putz. Who the hell do you think keeps this country safe, crackheads, skateboarders, social miscreants? (That was sarcasim) If waterboarding on one porn bubba keeps American's safe from terrorists, I am all for it (that was humor). But you are still a putz, most likely a devout liberal too.

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Posted by ( oldaf ) on May 27, 2008 at 11:06 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

What a laugh! The jury is going to decide if the videos violate Tampa's community standards. Perhaps the jury should take a trip to the "Mons"or any of the other nude clubs in Tampa followed by a trip to some of the many porn shops in town!

Why is that I never get called for jury duty for a case like this! All I ever got was some old lady slipping in a mall and some vagrant trying to steal a car. No fair!

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Posted by ( Budbkind2u ) on May 28, 2008 at 12:05 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

drdneast,

Just how the hell did you come(too easy) up with that post?
Never mind I forgot everything wrong in the world is Bush's fault, even my bad spelling.

Just what gives, these 12 people the right to say what's obscene? I will never understand why some fell the need to push what they belive in on others. This is just another case of it. Some people think ther are some cars are obscene, or songs, or hair cuts, and so on and so on...........

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Posted by ( Unstable ) on May 28, 2008 at 8:56 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

Just another example of a broken legal system......With all the budget cuts, maybe we can get rid of some of these stupid prosecuters and judges.....

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Posted by ( DaddyLutz ) on May 28, 2008 at 1:01 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

We should have all the guys that got busted at Fantasy Land be the jurors. But when they swear under oath, they have to put both of there hands up!!

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Posted by ( cinderelly ) on May 28, 2008 at 1:32 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

vomit? i wonder if they watched the cup girls