STAUNTON, VA — ”Nobody needs this kind of aggravation,” embattled After Hours Video owner Rick E. Krial told The News Leader, referring to prosecutor Raymond C. Robertson’s seemingly endless desire to shut the video shop down and see its owner in prison.For 1 ½ years, Robertson has pursued Krial in a high profile case that included legal representation from Matthew Buzzelli of the U.S. Department of Justice and high profile free speech attorneys Paul Cambria and Lous Sirkin.

At issue were two of 12 erotic videos purchased from After Hours Videos by undercover officers investigating possible obscenity violations during October 2007.

Store manager Tinsley Embrey was acquitted of two charges by the jury, but Krial and his LLC were convicted in August of last year on two misdemeanor obscenity charges.

Although Krial had hoped to re-open his shop’s doors after the week-long trial, he has since concluded that it would not be worth the inevitable continuation of a legal battle with Robertson and his supporters.

“If the store stayed open they were going to come at me with all the charges they could,” he explained to the press, referring to felony charges threatened to be levied unless he avoids appealing his current obscenity convictions.

An estimated $150,000 was spent by Krial on his defense, which included motions by attorney Tate Love to set aside the convictions based on numerous “improper statements” made by Robertson during the trial and believed to exist as part of a policy of “enflaming the passions and prejudices of jurors.”

According to Krial, other businesses in the city were carrying identical merchandise when he was granted a business license, which added to his shock when charges were filed against him.

“I played by the rules the whole time,” the owner of 11 adult businesses in Maryland and Virginia insists.

Rules or no rules, Robertson vowed in August of 2007 that he was “not going to allow dissemination of pornographic material in Staunton” and quickly selected Krial’s store as his battleground.

Cambria is expected to sign off on the new terms within the week and Robertson has declined to discuss the matter until Circuit Judge Thomas H. Wood officially brings the case to a close.