STAUNTON, Va. — Judge Humes J. Franklin Jr. ruled on Tuesday that First Amendment attorney Paul Cambria will be allowed to serve as co-counsel in the After Hours Video obscenity case.
After Hours owner Rick Krial and his company, LSP of Virginia, are facing 16 felony and 8 misdemeanor obscenity charges for selling 12 adult DVDs to undercover agents last month at the Springhill Road store.
Staunton prosecutor Raymond C. Robertson had asked the court to bar Cambria from representing Krial, arguing that Cambria's participation would create a conflict of interest. The prosecutor argued that Cambria's history as an attorney for Larry Flynt and other adult industry figures compromised Krial's plea bargaining position, opening up the case to appeal.
Robertson also claimed that Cambria was being paid by a third party in the adult industry and not by Krial himself - a claim which Cambria dismissed as "nonsense." Robertson produced no evidence that anyone other than Krial was paying Cambria's fee.
“I can’t deal in speculation,” Judge Franklin said. “I’ve got to deal in hard facts.”
Krial's attorney Tate Love pointed out that disqualifying Cambria from the case "would seem to me to create a much bigger appealable issue.”
“We have no divided loyalties here, your honor,” Cambria said.
After the hearing, Cambria told reporters, “I don’t fault the prosecutor for trying to gain any advantage he can."
