http://www.avn.com/law/articles/32093.html
Max Hardcore Sentencing Postponed
By: Mark Kernes
Posted: 09/04/2008
TAMPA - The sentencing of Paul Little a.k.a. Max Hardcore, originally
scheduled for tomorrow before U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew,
has been postponed until October 3.
"It got continued because the initial PSI [presentence investigation]
wasn't finished early enough to adequately give us time to file
objections," said prominent First Amendment advocate H. Louis Sirkin,
who was one of the attorneys representing Max World Entertainment in
the obscenity trial that began on May 27. "The way it works is, the
probation department writes an initial presentence report; they send
it out, and we have the right to file written objections to it. Then
we try to resolve them. Then a final report goes to the court."
Hardcore faces up to 5 years in prison for each of the 10 counts of
interstate transportation of obscene matter upon which he was
convicted, and up to $5 million in fines.
"There's some dispute over the amount of financial gain, which would
up some of the guideline levels, which will be a contested issue,"
Sirkin told AVN. "There are a few other items which there will be some
objections to. I think that we'll get some leeway in dealing with the
financial, because all of the material that's been determined to be
obscene, there was only a couple of films and video clips that were
determined to be obscene in Tampa; doesn't mean they're unlawful
anywhere else."
One consideration in sentencing a criminal defendant in federal court
is the amount of revenue that person derived from his/her crime, and
the higher the revenue (up to a certain level), the greater the
sentence can be. The defense team will be arguing that the court
should only consider the revenues derived from the five movies and
five online trailers that were the subject of Hardcore's convictions,
rather than the total revenues of the entire Max World business.
Concurrent with the defense's preparation of objections to the
presentence report, Sirkin and partner Jennifer Kinsley, as well as
defense counsel Jeffrey Douglas, Jamie Benjamin and Daniel Aaronson,
are working on the defendants' appeal from the charges, that will be
filed shortly after sentencing.
"In any criminal conviction, the case isn't a final appealable matter
until there's sentencing," Sirkin explained. "We did the motion for
new trial or judgment of acquittal, and that raised many of the issues
and reconfirmed many of the issues that will go up on appeal -
assuming the adult industry's still in existence after November," he
added, referring to the upcoming presidential election.
"And remember, on the sentencing, the government has the right also to
appeal," Sirkin warned.