NL-The reporters are already in Washington DC waiting for the Stagliano trial to start. I have a few people covering it that should be giving us reports. Jury selection is in progress. The judge has already sided with the Prosecuter on an important motion, that is NOT a good thing…
Stagliano Trial Judge Denies Expert Testimony
By Lyla Katz, Rachel Larris, XBIZ.com
WASHINGTON — Stagliano trial Judge Richard J. Leon has ruled that the defense expert witnesses are inadmissible in the case.
Judge Leon ruled against the defense’s motion to allow expert testimony by Dr. Lawrence I. Sank, a certified sex therapist and Dr. Constance Penley, a film studies professor at UC Santa Barbara.
Stagliano’s attorneys said that Stagliano should be permitted to offer expert testimony in his defense on all three prongs of the Miller test used to define obscenity.
The Miller test, as decided in the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case Miller vs. California, has three parts: 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/describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functions specifically defined by applicable state law; and whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.
The judge said that both the witnesses failed to meet the requirements of the Miller test. During Thursday’s questioning session, Judge Leon indicated he was not satisfied with Dr. Penley’s answer to the question, "Is all pornography art?"
When speaking about Dr. Sank’s practice of showing adult films to his patients, Judge Leon said that there is no evidence of reliability of this treatment. He said there is no scientific review of his methodology.
"Just because a practice is common does not make it scientific," the judge said.
The judge said for witnesses to offer an opinion on scientific merit it must be grounded in scientific knowledge.
The judge then also ruled the prosecutor’s rebuttal witnesses were also inadmissible.
The judge’s ruling has left the defense with no witnesses to call other than the defendant himself.
After reading the opinion, Judge Leon closed the courtroom to the public for the day, leaving only the attorneys and the judge inside to question potential jurors.
It is not yet known if the defense will file an interlocutory appeal to overrule the judge’s opinion. If such an appeal is filed it could delay the start of the trial.
If the defense does not file an appeal, trial will most likely start early next week.
Court is to resume Monday at 10 a.m. to continue questioning jurors. It is also unknown whether or not those proceeding will be open to the public.
Whats a matter, they couldn’t get Dr. Ruth or the MAJORITY of EXPERIMENTAL psychologists to testify? Buttman better shape up his defense if he wants to stay out of prison.
Tons of researchers at Purdue would be able to provide CREDIBLE testimony for Stagliano. Why did they have to pick a nobody with a marginal scholarly reputation on matters of porn.
Voire dire proceedings are never open to the public BTW…
I cannot believe that the government is moving forward with this case. With so many problems including insane wars and deficit problems which will cause future financial hardship for taxpayers, I am appalled that they are wasting valuable cash pushing forward against John Stagliano. This is not good for anybody. I wish this man good luck and I hope he comes home soon.
I wish him well too. Keep in mind that the specific material he is being held accountable for is not even close to the most extreme stuff he distributes. Further, whatever our individual stances about what constitutes “obscenity”, there are a whole lot of people on both sides of the political spectrum that do not agree and would gladly set the clock back a few decades if allowed. It pays to remember that because many in the industry have been isolated as to what the rest of the world thinks about porn of all sorts…