OXNARD : Prisoner Released Pending Ruling

An Oxnard man accused by prosecutors of running the largest prostitution ring in Ventura County was ordered freed from prison Wednesday while he awaits a ruling on whether race was the basis for his prosecution.

Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch released Henry Hardy Jr., 38, on his own recognizance based on an appeals court ruling that said the defendant should have been allowed to gather evidence to support his racism claim.

Hardy was sentenced to six years in prison in 1991 after he was convicted of three counts of pimping and eight counts of pandering stemming from his management of the Stardust Modeling Agency on Saviers Road in Oxnard.

Hardy was the only black among six men arrested on suspicion of pimping and pandering during a 1991 countywide sweep of prostitution businesses, according to court documents. The district attorney’s office declined to prosecute the other arrestees, who were white, but filed felony charges against Hardy.

He claimed that he was singled out for prosecution because he is black.

Before Hardy’s trial in 1991, his attorney tried to bolster the claim of racism by getting the district attorney’s office to reveal why the other arrestees were not prosecuted. Storch refused to order prosecutors to turn over the information, but the state Court of Appeal ruled in March that the judge was in error and that Hardy is entitled to pursue his claim of racism.

Hardy’s attorney, Christian Menard, said another hearing is scheduled next week to see if a settlement can be reached with prosecutors. The settlement under consideration would call for Hardy to drop his racism claim and let his conviction stand in exchange for his prison sentence being reduced to the 1 1/2 years he has already served, Menard said.