PROVO -- The manager of the Provo Marriott exercised his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself Thursday when asked about sexually explicit movies the hotel formerly made available to guests.
John Garfield was called as a prosecution witness in pretrial hearings in the Movie Buffs obscenity trial.When asked about the sexually explicit movies the hotel offered until about a week ago, Garfield invoked his right to not incriminate himself or the hotel chain.
The Provo Marriott stopped showing in-room adult movies after Garfield was subpoenaed to testify in the case, according to an attorney representing the hotel.
In court hearings this week, defense attorney Randy Spencer has argued the adult movies offered at the Provo Marriott were at least as offensive as the videos police seized in 1996 from Movie Buffs video rental stores in American Fork and Lehi.
Anthony L. Rampton, an attorney for the company that owns the Marriott franchise, told the judge he would not allow Garfield to answer any questions about videos. He said after the hotel was subpoenaed for the case, hotel executives stopped offering the adult movies.
"We pulled them about a week ago," Rampton said. He added the hotel chain doesn't want to do anything to offend the community.
Spencer argued that prosecutors are singling out his client for selling materials that are available in outlets all over Utah County, including the Marriott. He also argued that by doing so, the Utah County Attorney's Office is picking on a member of a protected class under the Constitution.
Larry Warren Peterman, 50, West Point, is charged with 15 counts of distributing pornography through the rental of videos at Movie Buffs in Lehi and American Fork. His second trial is scheduled to begin March 9. The first trial ended in a hung jury.
Spencer brought in piles of magazines, calendars and videos that he said were purchased at various bookstores and video outlets in the valley. He said a Carmen Electra calendar from Media Play, a Playboy video from Camelot Video, a Lipstick Girls video from Sam Goody and the Penthouse and Hustler magazines from Borders and Barnes & Noble could be construed as violations of the state statutes just as easily as the videos being used as evidence against Peterman.
Spencer said the prosecution's case is based on arbitrary determinations largely because the Movie Buffs adult videos came in oversize boxes and were more noticeable.
He said the same type of soft porn videos are widely available in the local hotels and in the video stores and Peterman was simply exercising his right to freedom of expression.
"I can't see the distinction. I just can't see it," Spencer said. "I'm trained in the law and I couldn't tell you what is legal and what is not. The statute is so broad, so vague."
Spencer said he isn't advocating prosecution of every distributor of soft pornography and visually explicit materials but is advocating fair and equal treatment.
He also said Peterman is in a protected class of citizens guaranteed the right to freedom of expression because he consciously chose not to register with the Selective Service when he was younger and informed the United States government of that decision.
"It is a class and he is in it," Spencer said.
Prosecutors Laura Cabanilla and Curtis Larson said Peterman isn't entitled to a special protection, "just ordinary protection."
Cabanilla said there is no discriminatory purpose in the prosecution of Peterman. "He was prosecuted because he was the only person at the time distributing this kind of material," she said. "Remember this was in 1996. A lot of this new material is not relevant."
She said the material confiscated from the Movie Buffs stores run by Peterman is hard core and violates the accepted community standards of decency.
Larson said the accepted industry standard of decency can conflict and differ from a community standard. "When it does, then it's a bad standard," he said.
Larson said Peterman waived his right to have the first judge view the movies in evidence and determine whether the content is truly pornographic.
"Because of this, he loses the right to argue that it is not pornographic," Larson said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.