WASHINGTON - Evil Angel owner John Stagliano was arraigned this morning on obscenity charges in federal district court for the District of Columbia.
Stagliano was fingerprinted at the FBI Washington field office at 8 a.m. before proceeding to federal district court for the arraignment. The AVN award-winning director pleaded not guilty to all charges and was released on his own recognizance.
Following the arraignment, Evil Angel held a small press conference outside the courthouse, where Stagliano and his attorney Allan Gelbard made brief statements.
Gelbard confirmed that attorneys H. Louis Sirkin and Paul Cambria have joined Evil Angel's defense team. Sirkin is representing John Stagliano Inc., and Cambria is representing Evil Angel Publications, Inc. Evil Angel has retained Robert Corn-Revere as local counsel in Washington.
A status hearing in the case is scheduled for June 12. Stagliano has the right to waive his appearance at that hearing, but must be available by telephone.
"John will need to phone in once a week during pretrial,basically just letting them know that he's still in the country," Evil Angel publicist told AVN. "If he does need to leave the country, he needs to notify the court beforehand - they did not take his passport."
The government is expected to file discovery in the case this week. Gelbard estimates the case will go to trial in early 2009.
"Mr. Stagliano is going to have a very strong defense," Gelbard told AVN. "He's got an excellent legal team behind him and he's going to be fine."
John Stagliano's statement to the press will be posted on Reason.tv.
