The obscenity case against Pendleton store owner Elyse Metcalf hinges on how much the community values the rights of individuals to choose what they watch, defense attorneys said in opening arguments Tuesday.

        A Hamilton County prosecuting attorney countered that the three sexually explicit adult videos Ms. Metcalf sold to undercover vice officers last fall are blatantly obscene.

        Jurors will only need to view the videos to come to that conclusion, said Assistant Prosecutor Steve Tolbert.

        “The tape will speak for itself. The movies are the best evidence of what is obscene ... ,” Mr. Tolbert told jurors hearing the case in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court before Judge Robert Ruehlman.

        Jurors spent most of Tuesday watching two of the three adult videos, Kitty Foxx's Aged To Perfection Vol. 15, which depicts older women having sex, and Jeff Stryker's Underground, a gay sex video.

Metcalf

        Jurors today will be shown the last video, Gangland 17, which depicts one woman having sex with multiple partners.

        Defense attorneys said they plan today to introduce expert testimony about the artistic merits of the videos.
       

Police testify

        Undercover city police and Hamilton County sheriff's deputies testified Tuesday that they purchased the adult videos from Ms. Metcalf's shop, Elyse's Passion, at 1210 Sycamore St. next-door to the School for Creative and Performing Arts, a Cincinnati magnet school.

        Mr. Metcalf faces six counts of pandering obscenity, but prosecutors say they will dismiss three of them.

        Defense attorney H. Louis Sirkin described his client as a businesswoman who strongly advocates women's rights, including sexual expression. Her small adult store, which offers marital aids as well as sexually oriented magazines and books, is a reflection of her celebration of individual, adult rights, he said.

        “The evidence will show that she was not hiding. She wanted people to make their own choices,” said Mr. Sirkin, a nationally known obscenity defense attorney who has represented Larry Flynt.
       

Other sources

        The defense hopes to show that gauging local consumption of sexually explicit materials is necessary to define community standards.

        As part of this strategy, defense attorneys asked undercover investigators if — besides Ms. Metcalf's store — they had also checked the availability of the three videos, and other similar videos, to area residents on the Internet, or through mail-order, or at the University of Cincinnati library or at Greater Cincinnati hotels.

        Investigators testified they had not.

        The case is expected to continue through this week.

Execution delayed; prison officials stunned
Death-penalty opponents gather
Planned executions spur prayer vigil
Diarro's death stuns school
Gas prices creep near $2 a gallon
Police search for suspect in shootings of four men
Boone County's budget up by 109%
Catch of the day: a friend
County braces for cuts
Fire ravages UK building
Fort Thomas cracks down on animal nuisances
20 graduate from Citizen Police Academy in Fairfield
Group promotes 'smart growth'
Kids give statue life
Mason OKs fire chief deal
Officials: Mental health reports falsified
Ohio court weighs jurisdiction in '63 beating death of teen girl
Openings contrast at porn trial
Paul Harvey in town
Property's value up to jurors
Residents take on Cinergy
School superintendent resigns
Trust led to two deaths, prosecutors say
Kentucky News Briefs
Tristate A.M. Report