STAUNTON, VA — Adult store After Hours Video was vandalized in the wake of a trial that ended August 15th in two misdemeanor obscenity convictions, one for the store and one for its owner.On Monday, one of the store’s front windows appeared smashed, according to published reports, and a sign on the door read “Closed to Restock Will Open Tomorrow!” Commonwealth prosecutor Raymond C. Robertson leapt into action to explain the store’s temporary closure with an assumption attorney Paul Cambria advised his client to remove all adult titles featuring multiple partners in order to conform to the community standards of decency Robertson believes were indicated during the trial.
“Reducing the inventory down to one-on-one [sex scenes] doesn’t do anything for me,” Robertson told the News Leader newspaper after saying he communicated his position to Cambria in an email.
After Hours Video and its owner Rick Krial each were convicted of one misdemeanor count of obscenity in connection with the sale of City Girls Extreme Gang Bangs, an adult video that depicts multiple penetrations and ATM. A second video that depicts only one-on-one sex, Sugar Britches, was not considered obscene by the jury.
Robertson brought charges against the store, its owner and a clerk in November 2007 following an undercover investigation that seized 12 titles the prosecutor considers obscene. Ten titles remain to be prosecuted, and Robertson has said he may present them in several more trials over the coming months.
With misdemeanor convictions on the books after the first trial, any additional convictions for obscenity will represent felonies under Virginia law. After Hours Video could lose its business license after even one conviction.
Circuit Judge Thomas H. Wood has said he will not officially enter the convictions and sentence Krial and After Hours until the defense has decided whether to file a motion seeking to have the jury’s verdict overturned. Wood has given the defense 60 days in which to file the motion. Robertson cannot make his next move concerning the 16 outstanding obscenity counts facing Krial, After Hours and store clerk Tinsley William Embrey until the court accepts or rejects the misdemeanor convictions.
