Krial and clerk Tinsley W. Embry will each face the first two misdemeanor counts of the 34 felony and misdemeanor counts they are facing at a trial beginning June 17.
The pair, as well as After Hours parent company LSP of Virginia, were indicted on 16 felony and eight misdemeanor counts of obscenity on Nov. 1, after undercover agents purchased DVDs at Krial’s store in October. On Jan. 22, a grand jury indicted Embry on six felony and four misdemeanor counts of obscenity.
The trial will require jurors to consider two movies titled "Sugar Britches" and City Girls: Extreme Gang Bang." A second trial on the felony charges could follow, depending on the outcome of the first.
The defense requested all the charges be tried in one case, but prosecutor Ray Robertson and Justice Department co-counsel Matthew Buzzelli argued there is too much material for one trial.
"It has a desensitizing effect after a while. And it also might anger [the jurors]. Enough's enough," Robertson said to reporters.
The defense team of Paul Cambria, Tate Love, Louis Sirkin, and John Hill, however, counter-argued that it would be unfair to their clients to have multiple trials.
"We're always concerned when a prosecutor picks 20 tapes, for example, and then says you have to face five trials, because it gives them several chances," Cambria said. "Not only that, it's extremely expensive."
A pretrial motion hearing is scheduled for May 27.
