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EVIL EMPIRE FOUNDER JOHN STAGLIANO OBSCENITY CASE SET FOR TRIAL
By: Paul Goldberg, Staff Writer - 03-24-10 - 12:00 a.m. PDT
Email PaulG@JRLChartsonline.com
A federal judge this yesterday set the trial in motion for heterosexual adult label Evil Angel/Evil Empire owner John Stagliano.Trial is set to begin on Wednesday July 7th, 2010. The obscenity case is against John Stagliano and his two production labels, Evil Angel Productions Inc. and John Stagliano Inc.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, at a status conference in Washington, set the trial date one month and one day after he had rejected Stagliano's claim that federal obscenity laws were unconstitutional.
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District Judge Leon went on to state that obscene material is not protected by the 1st Amendment and cannot be used in this case.
"Having considered the defendants' over breath of arguments, I am not convinced that such strong medicine is warranted in this case," Leon said. "Nor am I convinced that the federal obscenity statutes are unconstitutionally vague as applied to Internet speech." said Judge Leon.
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However Leon in last month's hearing did state that he is certain that the online material will be judged "as a whole" and not individually according to obscenity laws, eliminating Stagliano's concerns that the xxx trailer would be taken out of context.
With this ruling, federal prosecutors will now have the burden to show that the movie trailer is obscene in the context of the web page, stated Leon.
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John Stagliano and his production companies were indicted on seven counts for illegal possession, distribution and sale of the obscene materials, but they claim that federal laws criminalizing the interstate trafficking of obscenity are unconstitutional and interfere with 1st amendment rights.
FBI agents used the defendants' web site (www.evilangel.com) to order two films, "Milk Nymphos" [2008] and "Storm Squirters 2 'Target Practice." [2008].
An FBI agent in Washington also downloaded a free hardcore movie trailer called "Fetish Fanatic Chapter 5."[2008]. Judge Leon went on to also reiterate he argument by rejecting Stagliano's claim of a right to sexual privacy.
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Saying such a right does not cover the distribution of obscene materials. Leon further stated that the producers' case 'pales in comparison' and 'does not even remotely approach' the sexual privacy cases concerning homosexual rights and rights to obtain birth control."In the 1990s Stagliano became one of the most successful figures in American pornographic films. In 1990 Patrick Collins and Stagliano founded the Elegant Angel label as a subsidiary of Evil Angel.
The same year Evil released eight films, and made $34,000. In 1991 Stagliano established a production subsidiary in São Paulo, Brazil.
By 1993 the company was producing a new videotape every three weeks, and was grossing more than $1 million a year, and in 1996 the company sold approximately half a million videos.
In the mid 90's the company started using the phrase "The Evil Empire" on its box-covers, in reference to its growing stable of directors.
In 2008 Evil Angel won 18 AVN awards including the 'Best Director - Video' award for Fashionistas Safado: Berlin [2007] which was awarded to Stagliano.
JRL will be watching the outcome of this trial closely and will bring you gavel to gavel coverage as it happens.
Make sure to keep it locked in daily for the latest Info and Entertainment on the Gay Adult Film Industry.
You can visit www.evilangel.com to review Stagliano's heterosexual Adult porn films.
