Unprecedented Obscene-Video Case in Court

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 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 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.

Defence attorney Paul Kent-Snowsell 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, Miss Pain, and Pee Lovers.

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.

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 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, 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.