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news article on the Randy Price (a.k.a. Steve Sweet) obscenity case

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Apr 20, 2004, 2:59:45 AM4/20/04

The Honourable Judge Raymond R. Low of the Provincial Court of British
Columbia, Vancouver Criminal District, is expected to hand down his
decision in this case on Friday (April 23).

______________________________________________________________________

THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT: "Unprecedented Obscene-Video Case in Court"
http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=1074

Thursday February 26, 2004

Unprecedented Obscene-Video Case in Court
by Matthew Ramsey

Sounds of moaning, wailing, and the snapping of whips echoed through the
fifth-floor hallway of provincial court on Main Street recently as Judge
Ray Low [
http://www.provincialcourt.bc.ca/judicialofficers/judgesofthecourt/judgesbydistrict.html#16
] presided over a potentially precedent-setting case.

Randy Price, a principal owner of Sweet Productions Inc., faces nine
charges of producing obscene videos and 10 charges of possessing obscene
materials for the purposes of distribution.

Crown counsel Mike Mahoney embarked on his case against Price on
February 16 with a marathon four-day viewing session of 11 videos seized
by Vancouver police in two raids in 2002.

Four men [Randy Price (a.k.a. Steve Sweet), Geoff Baker (a.k.a. Tom
Sweet), Stephen Lyons (a.k.a. Mike Lyons, (the) Dirty Old Man, and
D.O.M.), and Reyfemel Damasco (a.k.a. Rey Rey)] were charged after the
raids on SPI's Franklin Street studios, but stays of proceedings were
entered for all except Price, president of Sweet Entertainment Group
[SEG - http://www.sweetentertainment.com/ ].

Defence attorney Paul Kent-Snowsell [ http://www.krlb.com/ ] confirmed
in court the first day that his client has pleaded not guilty to all
charges.

The confiscated videos and raw footage range in length from five to 45
minutes, and all involve bondage, domination, and sadomasochism (BDSM)
sessions, or urination. According to the charge sheet and crown counsel
Mahoney, the material in question was produced at Sweet's studio
"dungeon" in 2001 and 2002 for SPI Web sites Sado Slaves [
http://www.sadoslaves.com ], Miss Pain [ http://www.misspain.com ], and
Pee Lovers [ http://www.peelover.com ].

The first video entered into evidence on February 16, "Lexa Lords"
(which Mahoney said was produced for the Sado Slaves Web site), began
with unedited footage of "Lexa" (a dark-haired woman in her mid- to late
30s) going through the terms of her shooting contract with a woman
off-camera who identified herself as "Paige".

According to Paige, Lexa's turn in the dungeon could include spanking,
caning, flogging, hot wax, needle play, suspension, cupping, electric
shocks, weights, verbal abuse, nipple clamps, clothespins, rough gloves,
blindfolds, gagging, "mummification", a whipping post, stocks, being
tied up, having her hair pulled, being locked in a cage, getting
tickled, and being urinated on. Lexa agreed to all possibilities,
signing off on each.

In the video, Lexa was subjected to most of the above attentions by a
middle-aged man with an English accent, referred to on the clapboard as
Mike [Stephen Lyons].

Lexa's breasts and external genitalia were flogged; her breasts appeared
to be shocked with a plug-in wand; her buttocks were struck; and
clothespins were affixed to her breasts and labia. Mike also pierced
Lexa's breasts and her labia with needles, leaving blood dripping down
her thighs and chest, with Lexa moaning and wailing throughout. The
video ended after Mike urinated into her mouth.

Other videos entered into evidence during the four days featured large
silver weights being hung from women's labia and men's penises. A
videotape titled "Rage" showed a woman being urinated on and having her
head dunked in a toilet. The final piece of evidence, entered on
February 19, was a video titled "Gia", which, among other things,
featured a woman suspended by her ankles while someone poured hot wax on
her labia.

When students from a Grade 12 law class on a field trip from Churchill
secondary entered the court, the video was paused so Judge Low could
advise the teens of the graphic evidence on the TV.

"I'll tell you in advance, it ain't going to get any better," the judge
warned. The students left shortly after the video resumed playing.

Low stopped proceedings on several occasions during the four days to ask
if screening all 11 videos was necessary, but Mahoney said the videos
are crucial. Failure to enter all of the material into evidence would be
grounds for an appeal should the Crown win the case, Mahoney noted. On
at least three occasions, though, Mahoney said he fully expects the case
to end up in a higher court, regardless of the outcome.

"The law's all over the place," Mahoney said at one point in court.
"Quite frankly, this type of [BDSM] material has never been litigated
before."

Section 163(8) of the Criminal Code of Canada defines obscenity as "any
publication a dominant characteristic of which is the undue exploitation
of sex, or of sex and any one or more of the following subjects, namely
crime, horror, cruelty and violence".

Whether or not there is an "undue exploitation of sex" is determined in
several ways. First, the court must consider if the material passes the
community standard of tolerance test, whether Canadians would tolerate
other Canadians being exposed to the work in question. The 1992 Supreme
Court of Canada Butler decision [
http://www.lexum.umontreal.ca/csc-scc/en/pub/1992/vol1/html/1992scr1_0452.html
] further interpreted the obscenity law, in part, by deeming material
obscene if it exposes viewers to "a substantial risk of harm"; in other
words, if it may encourage someone to act in an antisocial manner.

The Crown presented its case February 16 to 19 in the form of the
videos; Kent-Snowsell told the court on February 18 that he plans to
argue that the seized material actually does meet community standards
because it depicts acts integral to BDSM, which he described to Low as
an "acknowledged sexual practice which is fairly popular".

Kent-Snowsell said he will also argue that the videos are little more
than theatrics and that the apparent violence seen on-screen is safe,
sane, and consensual within the context of BDSM play. He told Low he
plans to call two expert witnesses to testify to the mechanics of BDSM
play, and he has also requested an unrestricted Internet feed for the
court so he can demonstrate the sign-up process and how Web surfers
access the films.

Should Kent-Snowsell's client win his case, Low's ruling could challenge
current standards of what is acceptable pornographic content in Canada
and what goes too far.

Meanwhile, local BDSM practitioners are keeping a close watch on the
case.

Reive Doig, a member of the Vancouver BDSM organization By Invitation
Only [ http://www.vancouverdungeon.com/ ], said some of the SPI material
is "pretty extreme", and he worries that if the videos and raw footage
are deemed obscene the BDSM lifestyle itself may come under legal fire.
BIO holds monthly "play parties" at which BDSM aficionados engage in
many of the activities depicted in the SPI videos.

"There are hundreds of people in the city choosing to come out and
practise this sexuality openly," the 34-year-old Doig told the Georgia
Straight. "Do we have to worry when we're doing it in our own homes?"

The trial is expected to last another two to three weeks.

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