The trial of Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and his brother, Jimmy, is on. It is scheduled for Jan. 19, following the recent rejection by an Ohio state court judge of a flurry of Flynt motions. \n The Flynt brothers were charged in April with 15 law violations, mostly pandering obscenity and selling obscenity to minors at their sex novelty shop in Cincinnati. They pleaded not guilty at their arraignment in June. \n Among the motions filed by Flynt attorney H. Louis Sirkin was one to dismiss all the charges because the state obscenity law is blatantly unconstitutional and prohibits expression that is protected. \n Sirkin said the standard for what is obscene should be taken from the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case of Miller v. California. In that case, the court said material is obscene only if it appeals to prurient interests, describes sex in a patently offensive way and lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. \n The Ohio law lets the state define obscenity much more broadly. Instead of having to meet all the conditions set by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Ohio law says material can be obscene if it seems mostly intended to "arouse lust." \n Judge Patrick Dinkelacker of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, needed only two paragraphs to deny the motions. He said the Ohio Supreme Court had already ruled in 1978 that the state obscenity law conformed to the Miller case guidelines. \n Sirkin also argued that Ohio had amended its obscenity law four times since the 1978 ruling but never changed it to clarify that it was in sync with U.S. Supreme Court guidelines. \n For his part, Sirkin was philosophical about the judge's ruling. He said he didn't really expect the lower state court judge to toss out the Ohio law as unconstitutional. Also, he said, it was important just to have raised the issues so that they will be on the record if an appeal is needed. \n Finally, he added, none of the judge's rulings bothered his client in the least. "Larry wants a trial," Sirkin said.
All models were at least 18 years old at the time of their performance. 18 U.S.C. 2257 Record-Keeping Requirements Compliance Statement.
