Thursday, May 13, 1999
Flynt: 'I haven't changed my position one bit'
Hustler publisher tells why deal worked
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
No matter how prosecutors describe his plea deal, Larry Flynt says he's still a First Amendment crusader who knows what it means to make sacrifices for free speech. But he says he's also a shrewd businessman who knows a good deal when he sees one.
It was the latter, he says, that influenced his decision to accept a plea deal Wednesday that halted his long-awaited obscenity trial after only three days.
In an interview Wednesday night, Mr. Flynt said the deal gets him off the hook with Hamilton County prosecutors without compromising his self-proclaimed role as First Amendment defender.
“I still feel the same way,” he said. “I haven't changed my position one bit.”
He said concerns about his business, his magazine and his family led him to consider the deal that ended his trial.
Prosecutors, however, said Mr. Flynt cut his losses be cause he knew he was fighting a losing battle over the sale of sexually explicit videotapes at his Hustler store downtown.
The deal allowed Mr. Flynt and his brother, Jimmy, to avoid pleading guilty to any charge. But their corporation, Hustler News & Gifts, was required to plead to two counts of pandering obscenity.
The deal also requires Mr. Flynt to never again sell explicit videos in the county.
“We have not backed off one inch,” Prosecutor Mike Allen said. “He lost.”
But Mr. Flynt said prosecutors are not looking at the big picture.
In the two years since he returned to Cincinnati, he said, he has opened an adult bookstore in a town that had all but banned him for nearly two decades.
The store will continue to sell explicit magazines, including Hustler, and a variety of sex toys, lingerie and other items.
Twenty-two years ago, the sale of his magazine led to his conviction here on obscenity charges. Today, he said, it's business as usual.
“The magazine was what we always wanted,” he said. “The videos were never really the issue.”
He said the deal implicitly protects the sale of the magazine because prosecutors indicated they would not interfere with its distribution.
Mr. Allen said he made no promises and would “keep an eye” on the store.
Mr. Flynt said he's not worried. He said his deal is a good one for many reasons.
Chief among them is the assurance that he and his brother Jimmy, who had faced the same 15 obscenity charges, no longer are looking at a possible 24 years in prison.
“You gotta understand, my brother who I love very much was in this with me,” Mr. Flynt said. “He could've gone down with me as well.”
The deal also saves him from spending more money on his case, which he estimates already has cost him about $500,000. “It's cost me a fortune,” he said.
Although he said he was confident of victory, he did consider the possibility of losing.
He said explicit videotapes are far more difficult to defend in obscenity trials than magazines, primarily because they are “live-action” depictions of sex acts.
But he said that doesn't mean he's changed his view that the videos are protected by the First Amendment as long as they are produced and viewed by consenting adults.
“I still feel the videos should be protected by free speech,” he said.
He said he also thinks he could have prevailed at trial with an acquittal or, more likely, with a mistrial caused by a deadlocked jury.
He said his attorneys and jury consultants gave him a 70 percent chance at a mistrial. “I would've considered that a victory,” he said. “And I'm not sure we wouldn't have been successful.”
Finally, he said, the deal means he won't have to risk the gains he feels he's already made.
If he had lost the case, his store might have been put out of business, he might have gone to jail and the magazine might have disappeared from Cincinnati for many more decades.
“I realize there's a lot of people out there who are going to be disappointed that I didn't fight the issue on the videos,” he said. “But I think they'll understand.”
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