Judge Sharon Prather's decision stems from a decision on Feb. 20 to grant the state's attorney leave to file a motion for reconsideration, after deciding only a month earlier to grant the defense motion to suppress all evidence obtained from the search of Jones' home and office.
"It was a good day for Mike Jones," his attorney J.D. Obenberger told XBiz. "The state's attempt to validate the search warrant to get the judge to change her mind was denied today. Now the state has to make an appeal within 30 days in writing, or the issue will be permanently and forever closed."
Jones was indicted on obscenity and child pornography charges in 2001 after having his home and offices raided by Illinois police. At the time of the raid, police seized adult tapes, almost all of Jones' financial records, videotapes, floppy disks, and computers, much of which were later used as evidence against Jones to support the criminal charges against him.
The case hit its first snafu when Judge Prather ordered evidence seized from the raid on Jones' property suppressed after ruling that the search warrant used at the time was overbroad and "violative of the First Amendment.'
Obenberger said after leaving the courtroom that the judge's decision will bode well for Jones and could indicate that his obscenity ordeal is close to the finish. The judge's decision came after a period of argument over the exact terms of the search warrant used to raid Jones' property.
According to Obenberger, the warrant directed the officers to seize everything that was considered "obscene" or "child porn."
"But the warrant did not define those terms," said Obenberger. "So they basically took everything that wasn't nailed down, and typically it is not within the confidence of a police officer to make an "on view" arrest when it comes to determining what obscenity is, however there are much less stringent rules when it comes to determining child porn."
According to Judge Prather's decision today, separating the evidence as either child porn or obscenity was too broad.
Moving forward, the prosecution can file a notice of appeal in writing within a thirty-day period. If they don't file, says Obenberger, they can't use anything against Jones as a result of the search.
"The state knows that Mike Jones never was a child pornographer," Obenberger told XBiz. "The state knows he never had knowing possession of child porn. I am deeply convinced that had the evidence not been suppressed, Mike Jones would be acquitted of all charges."
In the meantime, Jones continues to produce adult content, but he sold CDBabes' to David Slaughter in November of the last year.
Jones was not available for comment at the time of this posting.
