Defense accuses judge of bias in porn trial

TAMPA -- Tensions ran high this morning in the obscenity trial of a porn film-maker, with defense attorneys accusing the judge of favoring the prosecution and asking that she recuse herself or declare a mistrial.

Defense attorneys complained that U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew didn't allow them to question a juror who sent a note Thursday asking to watch less pornography in court. They wanted to know whether his note represented only his views and whether he had discussed the case with other jurors.

The defense also accused the judge of unfairly questioning why they insisted on playing all 8-1/2 hours of violent and graphic pornography and other DVD extras in the case against Paul F. Little and his company, MaxWorld Entertainment Inc., while prosecutors only intended to show a sampling.

"This is an open trial, and we felt that the court has taken that away from us," MaxWorld attorney Louis Sirkin told the judge.

Sirkin has argued all week that the law requires jurors to view the materials in their entirety to accurately and fairly judge whether the movies are obscene.

In his films, Little goes by the name Max Hardcore. He creates scenes that show him inflicting pain and humiliation on female actors. His movies include vomiting and urinating, often on adult women made up to look like young girls.

Bucklew denied defense attorneys' request to recuse herself or declare a mistrial.

"The fact that you may be dissatisfied with my ruling ... that's not a reason to disqualify," Bucklew said. "You may not be happy in the future with some of my rulings. That is still not a reason to disqualify."

Bucklew then chastised defense attorneys for including the name of the male juror who sent the note in their motion, which was available on an electronic filing system accessible to the public. By law, federal jurors' names are kept secret, unless they decide to reveal their identities after a trial.

Defense attorneys said it was an inadvertent mistake. The judge ordered the filing immediately sealed.

Amid the day's legal arguing came a comedic moment.

Jurors snickered when at the start of one of the pornographic DVDs, a recording of Max Hardcore's voicemail begins to play. A man leaves a message telling Max Hardcore that he is a sick and crazy individual for what he does to women in his films and that he should stop.

It's these kinds of DVDs extras and clips that defense attorneys say are important for jurors to view.

Jeffrey Douglas, Little's lead attorney, pointed to the cartoonish music playing at the start of some of the DVDs and the fast-forwarding and repetition that give some parts of the DVDs a "substantially more light-hearted" feel than the features.

MaxWorld attorney Jennifer Kinsley said it's also important for jurors to see advertisements on some of the DVDs directing viewers to Jaded Video, a company that sells Max Hardcore films. She contends that prosecutors purchased the five DVDs they're using at trial from Jaded Video, not Little or MaxWorld.

"These defendants did not sell this material to Tampa," Kinsley said.

Jurors will be asked to decide whether the films meet the local community's obscenity standards. 

-Kevin Graham, Times staff writer

[Carrie Pratt, Times files]