Tuesday, July 18, 2000
Videos banned as obscene
By Tom O'Neill
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BATAVIA — Clermont County moved a legal step closer Monday toward defining a community standard for sexually explicit material.
The guilty plea in Clermont County Common Pleas Court by Video Barn operator Vicky Emerson didn't specifically address where the obscenity line is drawn, but one question was settled: Wherever that line is, two “Rocco” movies at the store crossed it.
The movies, Rocco Never Dies — The End and Rocco Never Dies — Part I, depict group sex and what prosecutors called rape depictions. They are now illegal to offer in the county.
Prosecutor Don White called the agreement before Common Pleas Court Judge William Walker a victory because it set an obscenity standard that had been lacking in Clermont courts.
Also, he obtained a felony conviction against the Withamsville store and a misdemeanor conviction against Ms. Emerson, against whom a fifth-degree felony charge of pandering obscenity was dropped.
The 50-year-old Batavia woman, who was arrested in May 1999, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted pandering. Both sides agreed that Ms. Emerson should be sentenced to 18 months' probation. She faced a maximum of six months in jail if convicted of the felony.
Sentencing is set for Aug. 24. The store was fined $5,000.
“Now, we have something to work from,” Mr. White said. “This wasn't just your ordinary sex video.”
He and Assistant Prosecutor Daniel “Woody” Breyer emphasized that all such cases will be judged individually, and that the office is not interested in scrutinizing every adult video sold or rented in Clermont. The Rocco videos were sold to undercover officers, prompted by a citizen's complaint.
Ms. Emerson said Monday she never considered the Rocco videos obscene, and her attorney, Louis Sirkin, told Judge Walker she maintains her innocent.
“It's like a toss-up,” she said of the deal. “You make the deal and get out of it.”
Her store remains open, but the plea bargain requires that it not advertise the adult videos or display nudity in the video boxes.
A similar case against Vivian Hageman, 61, of Batavia, owner of Major Video Center in Mount Carmel, is pending.
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