Porn Valley- I spoke to Steve Seidman who will be in Los Angeles this weekend for Erotica LA. Seidman, who now lives in Houston, just got back from a one-day trip to Dallas where he and John Gray were called on as expert witnesses by the prosecution in a trial against Girls Gone Wild. The company, Mantra owned by Joe Francis, is being charged with using underage girls in their productions. Two of the women who wound up on boxcovers apparently brought the charges. In his testimony Seidman mentioned 2257 and proceedings had to stop. Seidman thought that was pretty rich.
“Finally they had to ask the judge for a recess so they could look up 2257,” says Seidman. “We testified yesterday. This thing is going on hot and heavy. Their lawyers [Mantra’s] are really fighting on nothing,” Seidman thinks. “They have a model release and on the model release. But one of the big things is that even though the girls were on two films, they put them on five different boxcovers. And they weren’t even in some of those films. Which isn’t unusual because the boxcover sells, of course. It was just hilarious.
“The lawyers for Mantra are fighting a losing battle,” Seidman thinks. “They have model releases signed- here’s the way they got them signed. Girls sign them. They say how old are you? And the girls lied about their age and they never asked for ID or anything else. So they got nothing. They asked me what I would do with that model release. I said wipe my ass with it.”
Seidman swears that’s what he said on the stand when asked that question.
“It’s hilarious,” said Seidman. “Then they needed a five minute recess to look up what 2257 was. I said Jesus Christ. I’d hate like hell to have you guys defending me in a case like this. Because I’m talking about 2257 so much they ask about sex acts. They showed me a picture of this one girl flashing, then grabbing her nipples. They ask is that a lewd and lascivious act. I said first of all it depends on community standards, but, otherwise, that would be something I’d definitely have to have a model release on. She’s touching herself.”
Asked how he wound up getting involved in the trial, Seidman said the prosecution’s lawyer is a friend of his company’s lawyer who referred him to Gray and Seidman.
“The trial was held in Denton, Texas,” said Seidman. “You know what Denton’s like? It’s like the asshole of Texas. It’s worse than Amarillo. You’re talking about people that don’t see black and white together. The jury was six men and six women. It was just fucking hilarious.” Because Gray was profiled in a Playboy’s Sexcetera segment, the defense was apparently attacking Gray’s credibility. Seidman quotes Gray as saying, “Yeah but I didn’t appear nude- nobody wants to see me naked.”