LOS ANGELES — At today's hearing in the Ron Jeremy trial at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, the defense and the prosecution agreed to a start date of August 4 for a preliminary hearing.
During the proceedings, Jeremy’s attorney, Stuart Goldfarb, repeated his claim that he could not conduct a proper defense without more information about the identity of the victims and witnesses.
The defendant was marched in at 11 a.m. (PDT) with his now vast white beard hidden under a COVD mask.
Goldfarb appeared in person, while DA Paul Thompson appeared via phone. The other DA on the case, Marlene Martinez, is on maternity leave until July.
Thompson said he had given 200 extra pages of discovery to Goldfarb, who continued to insist that he cannot properly prepare for the preliminary hearing without having access to the names and addresses of the 23 victims and 50-plus witnesses that the DA office intends to produce.
Sexual assault cases have special discovery rules designed to protect the safety of the victims; the defense is requesting those special rules to be relaxed to identify the individuals behind the assault allegations in order to answer them.
Goldfarb filed a writ of appeal intending to obtain that information, but it was not taken up by the 2nd Circuit. Goldfarb said he’s now appealing to the California Supreme Court.
The next court date will be July 20, with an expected beginning of the preliminary hearing, which is expected to last several days, on August 4.
The Charges
Jeremy was arrested and charged with the first batch of charges on June 22, 2020. He was arraigned and pled “not guilty” that week. His bail was set to $6.6 million and he has remained in jail since that date.
The criminal case summary now shows 35 counts. If convicted, Jeremy faces a possible maximum sentence of more than 330 years to life in state prison.
During a late-August 2020 hearing, Deputy DA Thompson of the Sex Crimes Division added 20 more charges to the original eight. During the last hearing, on October 28, 2020 the DA’s office filed seven additional sexual assault counts involving six additional victims and spanning from 1996 to 2020. The case against Jeremy was then amended to add three counts of forcible rape, two counts of forcible oral copulation and one count each of sexual battery by restraint and assault with intent to commit forcible digital penetration.
The crimes alleged against Jeremy add up to: 11 counts of forcible rape, eight counts of sexual battery by restraint, six counts of forcible oral copulation, five counts of forcible penetration by a foreign object and one count each of sodomy, assault with intent to commit rape, assault with intent to commit forcible digital penetration, penetration by a foreign object on an unconscious or sleeping victim and lewd conduct with a 15-year old girl.
The incidents now involve 23 victims.
Jeremy has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.