KANSAS CITY - Hollywood at Home has lawfully operated as an adult business in Overland Park for over 20 years. But as a result of a petition campaign launched by anti-porn zealot Philip Cosby, the store was one of three retail businesses indicted this week by a grand jury for "promoting obscenity."
Richard Bryant, who represents Hollywood at Home, told the Kansas City Star that the store's owners cooperated with a 1989 grand jury in drawing up community standards defining obscenity.
“We are going to defend this as vigorously as we can,” Bryant said.
According to court documents, Hollywood at Home “unlawfully and knowingly or recklessly possessed and intended to sell four
different obscene DVDs.” Priscilla's was charged with selling five sex toys and one "obscene" video. Spirit Halloween, which is owned by Spencer Gifts, was charged for exhibiting Halloween costumes (!) deemed "harmful to minors".
An attorney for Priscilla’s told the Kansas City Star that they would contest the charges as well. An attorney from the Spencer Corp. did not comment.
Bryant told the Kansas City Star that he had no idea why the four adult DVDs sold by Hollywood at Home were singled out as obscene. “All I can tell you is the distributors of those videos have all indicated that they have not been subject of investigation in any state or any city in the country,” he said.
Convened July 16 in Kansas’ Johnson County District Court, the grand jury has thus far handed down 12 indictments. The owners of the three businesses have been ordered to appear in court Oct. 10 to hear the charges against them.
The rare grand juries are a result of Cosby's ongoing campaign to wipe out adult businesses. Cosby heads the Kansas City chapter of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families (NCPCF). Earlier this year, he organized a petition drive calling for grand jury investigations of 32 adult businesses in Kansas and Missouri for promotion of obscenity. Enlisting the help of church leaders and community activists, Cosby's group delivered the petitions to six county courthouses in May. The efforts successfully created grand juries in several Kansas counties.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with how things are progressing,” Cosby told the Kansas City Star.
