PROVO -- Carol Biesinger quietly perused Reader's Digest while a violent sex scene from the movie "Basic Instinct" played on a television screen across the courtroom.
The owner of Sunrise Family Video -- the one famous for editing "Titanic" -- didn't look up as an unclad Sharon Stone stabbed her lover to death. Biesinger doesn't rent R-rated videos in her American Fork store and had no interest in catching a glimpse of one Thursday while waiting to testify in the Movie Buffs pornography case.Sneaking a peek at the sex-film fest going on in 4th District Court hasn't been much of a pastime for people hanging around the courthouse. Other than those involved with the case, an occasional attorney and one older couple, few, if any, oglers have wandered in.
The gallery remains virtually empty while the jury stares at video after video.
Court administrator Paul Sheffield wouldn't even hazard a guess as to why the good people of Utah Valley aren't making a day of free nudie shows. But he did say he was a little surprised that more hadn't found their way to the courtroom.
The live drama of general court proceedings, sprinkled with large doses of tedium, are open to the public. There are even some regulars who come in to check out some of the more intriguing cases.
But not just anyone can walk into Judge Steven L. Hansen's court this week. A sign taped to the door reads: "Sexually explicit movies are being shown throughout the day in courtroom 203. You must be 18 to enter."
So far, Hansen hasn't had to shoo away any teenagers who skipped school to take in a matinee, though he did ask one youthful looking fellow his age before the VCR started running last Friday. The young man told the judge he was 21.
The order barring anyone under age 18 carried over from Larry W. Peterman's first trial last June over which Judge Lynn W. Davis presided. The former Movie Buffs general manager is charged with 15 misdemeanor counts of distributing pornography.
State prosecutors last year requested restricted access to the courtroom during the trial. Peterman's former attorney, Jerry Mooney, went along with the request as long as the restriction applied only when the videos were playing. Davis' order carried over to the current trial, Sheffield said.
Neither Sheffield nor prosecutor Laura Cabanilla could recall a case where admission to the courtroom was conditional.
And after walking into the judicial theater, spectators aren't exactly free to walk out. The sign on the door also reads, "Once you enter the courtroom, the judge requests that you remain seated until the movie being shown has ended."
The ladies and gentlemen of the jury, however, comprise the true captive audience. They have no choice but to watch the cable-edited skin flicks from start to finish, a task at least one juror is apparently having trouble doing.
Defense attorney Randy Spencer complained to the judge Wednesday that one juror spends significantly more time looking away from the screen than do others. He asked Hanson to keep an eye on the juror. The jury must watch each of the 15 videos in its entirety to determine whether it's legally obscene.
Prosecutor Curtis Larson noted that one drowsy juror in the first trial had trouble staying focused on the movies, causing the state considerable difficulty. That juror was apparently reluctant to participate with his peers in setting a community pornography standard as the case ended in a mistrial.
The prosecution attempted Thursday to help jurors set that standard by having four Utah County video store owners testify about how selective they are about the movies they stock.
The defense went after Tom Grassley particularly hard. The owner of Party Land testified that he shies away from R-rated movies that customers might find offensive. Spencer wondered then what he thought about "Basic Instinct" and "Body of Evidence," both rated R, and the unrated "Body of Influence," all of which are available in his Springville shop.
After watching sexually charged snippets of each, Grassley said, "I'd probably pull them."
Biesinger, whose store spliced a nude Kate Winslet out of 5,000 copies of "Titanic," set her magazine, her smut shield, aside when it was her turn to take the witness stand. She explained that Sunrise Video doesn't carry movies that she couldn't watch sitting next to her 14-year-old daughter without being embarrassed.