Wednesday, May 12, 1999
Flynt reaches plea agreement, videos to be removed
BY TERRY KINNEY
Associated Press Writer
Prosecutors dropped obscenity charges today against Larry Flynt and his brother in a plea agreement that fines the Hustler magazine corporation and removes X-rated videos from a downtown store.
The agreement was reached in what would have been the third day of jury selection in a trial that could have sent the Hustler publisher to jail for 24 years.
Prosecutors allowed Flynt and his brother, Jimmy, to substitute their corporation instead of themselves in a plea of guilty to two counts of pandering obscenity. Hustler News & Gifts bookstore was fined $5,000 on each count.
Prosecutors dropped all other charges in the 15-count indictment against the Flynts in exchange for the guilty pleas and an agreement to remove sexually explicit videos from their store, which also sells Hustler and other magazines and sex toys. One count had alleged that a juvenile bought videos at the store.
Flynt had opened the store just off Fountain Square because he was angry at obscenity crackdowns that kept his magazine largely unavailable in the city. He was convicted in 1977 of pandering obscenity for selling Hustler in Cincinnati, and said he hoped that his trial in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court would show that community standards for obscenity had changed.
“I am very pleased,” Larry Flynt said. “The deal the prosecution offered us was the deal we always wanted.
“We want to sell our magazine. If they just leave the magazine alone, we'll be OK.”
Prosecutor Mike Allen said the county protected its values and made no concessions to the Flynts.
“He didn't win. He lost,” Allen said. “He turned tail and ran.”
The corporation has until May 21 to pay the fine, which Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Patrick Dinkelacker imposed when he accepted the plea agreement.
Flynt's attorneys and prosecutors had spent Tuesday trying to find 12 jurors willing to sit through a four- or five-week trial that would expose them to up to 40 hours of hard-core adult videos. Dinkelacker on Tuesday dismissed 10 potential jurors who told him they were strongly opposed to pornography.
“I guess I'm a prude or something,” said one woman who was dismissed. “I just couldn't look at that kind of stuff.” The court withheld the potential jurors' names and the judge ordered the media not to photograph them.
“I could see myself closing my eyes,” said another woman who was excused from jury duty.
Flynt said he appreciated the honesty.
“In the trial I had 20 years ago, people were lying through their teeth to get on the jury, saying this stuff didn't bother them,” he said.
After his 1977 conviction, Flynt served six days of a seven-to-25-year sentence and was released pending appeal. The conviction was overturned in 1979.
This week's trial had been rescheduled twice because Flynt, who has been in a wheelchair since he was shot in 1978, needed surgery for a urological problem related to his paralysis and also developed pneumonia.
Flynt, 56, and brother Jimmy, 52, were indicted in April 1998 on charges of pandering obscenity, disseminating material harmful to a juvenile, conspiracy and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
The most serious charge involved the alleged sale of a sexually explicit video to a 14-year-old boy at the store, which Jimmy Flynt manages. If convicted, each brother could have gotten 24 years in prison and $65,000 in fines.
TRIAL ARCHIVE
Pool asked about sex practices May 11
Cincinnati vs. Flynt: The Sequel May 2
Players in the Flynt trial May 2
Obscenity trials highly subjective May 2
Video technology brought porn home May 2
Odyssey team world-class as kids, too
Fountain fix-up funds flowing in
'Star Wars' ticket adventure begins
Asylum or death?
Expansions, new building urged for Lakota
Findlay Market to fight crime
Coaster fans ready for 'Son of Beast'
House Senate rejects 'lemon' on title
Patton enjoys Aquarium preview
Flynt reaches plea agreement, videos to be removed
Summer bus fares will drop to 50Ä from airport to Kings Island
Ted Turner comes home to champion environment
Tornado widow feels pain, pride at son's kindergarten graduation
Cop's career jeopardized by fight with girlfriend
County cop charged with shoplifting
Kenton narrows jail sites to four
Lucas has 1st GOP opponent
CCM dean Werner to retire
Fat's a fact
GET TO IT
Alarms could link to city network
County, Cheviot reach accord on dispatch bill
Empty buildings may get fix-up
Forest Park asks for help to widen U.S. 127
GOP candidates debate
Homes and businesses expected on Monroe site
Miami won't fight hiring ruling
New ozone notch added for the 'sensitive'
Panel to explain Ohio 4 plan
Roselawn art focuses on diversity
School nurses dole out care
Sentencing postponed for former reporter
Teacher cooks up interest in science
TRISTATE DIGEST
Unions fret over health care cost
Y closes building after fire to assess
