Producer’s Pandering Charge Dropped

Pandering charges against a Hollywood film producer were dismissed Wednesday by the San Diego County district attorney’s office because of a recent state Supreme Court ruling banning such prosecutions for adult movies that aren’t obscene.

Prosecutors dropped 10 pandering counts against Ronald Jeremy Hyatt, 34, a producer for Video Exclusions of Hollywood, because of last month’s court decision.

“We have to yield to the state Supreme Court, which has the final say, because the state attorney general’s office is not going to (appeal the ruling) to the U. S. Supreme Court,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis said.

“Unless the Legislature wants to enact specific statutes that cover the film industry, prosecuting actors and actresses who perform sexual acts in a non-obscene film has been held to be a violation of their First Amendment rights and is not covered by pandering laws.”

Hyatt, who also appeared in the movie, was ordered to stand trial on the charges after a preliminary hearing last year. His trial, scheduled to begin Wednesday, had been set months before the ruling was announced.

Not Breaking Laws

“Those of us who are concerned may attempt to enact some type of legislation to cover this . . . but as of now, they aren’t breaking any laws,” Dumanis said.

“The defendant performed sexual intercourse and oral copulation (in the film), which are acts generally accepted by the community as being non-obscene.”

The movie’s sexual scenes were filmed at the San Diego home of Richard Pesta, 42, a self-proclaimed crime fighter who wears an outfit much like Superman’s when making anti-crime appearances as “Captain Sticky.”

Pesta, who rented his in-home film studio to Hyatt for $500 a day knowing an adult movie would be filmed there, was not charged.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s prosecution of producer Harold Freeman resulted in the recent precedent-setting state Supreme Court ruling.

The Freeman ruling struck down a previous law under which the procurement of actors and actresses to perform such acts was labeled pandering, even in a film adjudged non-obscene by court standards, Dumanis said.

Pandering is the hiring of an individual for prostitution. The exchange of money is not needed for such prosecution.