PROVO -- Barbara Powell took the minutes at a 1994 Lehi planning meeting about a proposed Movie Buffs store. So she couldn't resist a peek into the store's "adult room" when it opened a few month later.
"I was shocked," the 50ish woman testified Friday. "And I hurried out and I hoped no one had seen me enter."A typical Lehi resident? State prosecutors in the Movie Buffs pornography trial would like the jury to think so. Over defense attorney Randy Spencer's objections, prosecutor Laura Cabanilla asked Powell's opinion on what an average person in the small but growing city is like.
Powell, a secretary for Lehi planning, described them as "upright citizens. I would say you could find very few non-LDS people, Mormons, in Lehi."
In response to another question asking her to describe Lehi residents, she said, "I would like to think they were all good people and they had standards . . . but not everybody is like that. I'm sure you'll find people who like to watch an X-rated movie, but they can go to Salt Lake County and get one."
The diverse group of jurors who listened to Powell's testimony will decide the fate of Larry W. Peterman and set a community obscenity standard when and if a verdict is reached. Peterman, a former Movie Buffs general manager, faces 15 counts of distributing pornography.
His first trial last summer ended in a hung jury.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Wednesday morning, meaning the six-person jury (two alternates will be excused) could begin deliberations that day. Prosecutors expect the courtroom will be packed with spectators, including at least one anti-pornography group.
The jury must base its decision on how it thinks the average person would view the 15 cable-version sex films police confiscated from stores in Lehi and American Fork in an October 1996 raid.
Prosecutors spent much of Friday reminding jurors that Utah County has a different attitude about sexually explicit material than other places.
Even Judge Steven L. Hansen advised them not to consider community standards about surrounding areas when Peterman testified about a Movie Buffs outlet in Draper.
Spencer contends that because officials in Draper found the movies legal, it was reasonable for Peterman to believe neighboring Lehi would do the same.
Powell testified that Peterman told planning committee members that Movie Buffs would rent "adult" but not X-rated videos. She said she found the terms confusing. "To me that was a contradiction in my mind, but I put down what's said," she testified.
Lehi city attorney Ken Rushton said the City Council understood what types of videos Movie Buffs would stock in the adult room when it granted Peterman a business license.
"I don't think that the City Council had a concern or thought or fear that pornographic movies would be rented at this establishment," he said.
Peterman testified earlier Friday that Lehi officials through several public meetings knew the videos would be "sexual in nature."
"Sexual in nature is a relative term, isn't it?" prosecutor Curtis Larson asked.
"I didn't think there was a real need for actual descriptions," Peterman said. "They seemed to have an adequate understanding of the films."
Peterman testified that neither Lehi nor American Fork, which issued a business license administratively, asked Movie Buffs to pull movies from its shelves prior to the police raid.
"I was under the impression we weren't violating any laws," he said.