Day 1 of the Max Hardcore Obscenity Trial
The first day of the Max Hardcore Obscenity Trial was a heated battle even before the jury was selected. The issue at hand was the government’s argument that they were not required to show the entire length of the DVDs selected, rather only a few scenes.
“The government chose to buy five videos; they could have bought one,” responded prominent First Amendment attorney H. Louis Sirkin, one of the attorneys representing Maxworld Entertainment, noting that the government could withdraw any of the charged videos from the case if it wanted to.
Judge Bucklew decided she would have to review the content before making a decision.
Before the end of the day, 12 jurors and one alternate had been selected. Judge Bucklew expressed her dislike of certain lines of questioning during the jury selection process.
In deciding what questions to ask, the judge disclosed her dislike of questions that began with, “Do you believe” and “Do you feel,” and specifically rejected the defense’s request that she ask whether any potential juror had any “moral convictions” regarding adult material.
But although she didn’t ask the question, at least three jurors made their religiously-based dislike of the material known during the questioning.
The full recap of day one of the trial can be found here at AVN.com.
