WASHINGTON, D.C.—As the second day of testimony in the John Stagliano obscenity trial concluded at 5:50 p.m. ET today, Judge Richard J. Leon said that he would take under advisement the defense motion to exclude Exhibit 9—the CD-R containing the downloaded trailer for Fetish Fanatic 5—from consideration during the trial, which would mean of necessity that at least two internet-related counts of the seven-count indictment would have to be dismissed.
At issue are both the integrity of the disc itself, since FBI Special Agent Daniel Bradley admitted under cross examination by defense attorney Paul Cambria that he could not affirm that the trailer depicted on the disc is exactly the same as the trailer he downloaded from Evil Angel’s website on Jan. 21, 2008.
Moreover, when the attorneys for both sides attempted to play Exhibit 9 during a recess, a glitch in the recording was seen wherein the audio portion of the trailer continued to play for at least 10 seconds while the video portion of the trailer froze. This raised the question whether the trailer as presented on the disc could be relied upon to be “taken as a whole” by the jury.
Prosecutor Pamela Satterfield argued that the defect went to the weight of the evidence, not its admissibility.
The judge said that he would render his decision when court reconvened at 10 a.m. ET tomorrow morning.
Keep checking back with AVN.com for further developments.
