Adult Movie Maker Asks Judge In Tampa To Delay Prison Term
Fr: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/oct/24/240949/adult-moviemaker-asks-judge-tampa-delay-prison-ter/

By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune
Published: October 24, 2008

TAMPA - Adult movie producer Paul Little is asking a judge to let him postpone his 46-month prison sentence while his lawyers appeal his conviction on obscenity charges.

Little, whose pornographic character goes by the name Max Hardcore, lives in California, but was tried in Tampa after investigators here ordered his films through the mail and downloaded them on the Internet.

Little's lawyers say in a motion filed late Thursday that they plan to appeal Little's conviction on seven grounds, including the argument that federal obscenity laws violate the right to sexual privacy and are "unworkable when applied on the Internet."

The lawyers also maintained that U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew, who presided over the trial, erred when she allowed prosecutors to present excerpts of the films in question, rather than the entire films and that she erred again when she wouldn't let the defense play the entire DVDs.

The lawyers also maintain that Bucklew formed her own conclusion about Little's guilt before the prosecution was finished presenting its case.

They say Little is not likely to flee before going to prison because he has known for a long time about the investigation, did not flee and because he traveled to Tampa for every required court appearance.

According to evidence in the trial, federal investigators in January 2006 purchased an online membership to the Max Hardcore Web site and downloaded five promotional video clips. Then, in March 2007, an undercover postal inspector bought five DVDs from the Web site, having them delivered to a post office box in Tampa.

The videos featured scenes of vomiting and urination, depicting scenes of women being forced to ingest various bodily fluids.