LOS ANGELES — The Associated Press and other mainstream news outlets have begun publishing selections from the grand jury testimony of alleged victims against Ron Jeremy.
The grand jury, convened by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office, returned an indictment three weeks ago.
The official court reporter, René Evanko, requested $805 from press outlets for a PDF of the testimony. This is apparently standard practice at courthouses in Los Angeles County, several sources have confirmed. However, limiting access to the victims’ testimony by charging this fee — an amount that dates from the era when paper transcripts had to be laboriously photocopied and collated — further adds to the atmosphere of secrecy in which the DA’s office has reported the allegations and details of the stories behind the sexual assault charges.
Jeremy’s attorney, Stuart Goldfarb, has repeatedly complained that he cannot conduct a proper defense without knowing the names of the 21 alleged victims — two of the original 23 recently dropped out of the DA’s case — or of the witnesses.
District Attorney Paul Thompson, one of the DAs leading the case, has fought Goldfarb’s request for access to this information since Jeremy was arrested in June 2020, stating repeatedly that Goldfarb would have a chance to review the details after the preliminary hearing.
But instead of proceeding with the preliminary hearing, finally scheduled for October, the DA instead convened a grand jury last month and gathered the victims’ testimonies there in writing. California grand juries meet in secret and without press attendance. The transcript of those meetings is in the PDF now on offer.
Last Friday, responding to an XBIZ inquiry, a spokesperson for the DA’s office acknowledged that there would be no preliminary hearing “because there is now a grand jury indictment. The victims’ testimony at the grand jury was transcribed and both the prosecution and defense have copies.”
'Information Not Everyone Knows About'
Court Reporter Evanko explained via email that “the court transcripts in California belong to the court reporter, not the court. I am only permitted to charge what the law allows. It is what it is.”
Evanko acknowledged that the steep price to forward a PDF is “information that not everyone knows about when it comes to court transcripts in California” and warned against attempting to obtain it from someone else.
“California Government Code 69954(d) actually prohibits the sharing of transcripts,” Evanko explained. “I guarantee you it's not a transparency thing. California legislation just bars anyone from providing it to you. I know it probably seems frustrating to you, but it's been that way for as long as I've been reporting, which is over 35 years.”
The AP Publishes Testimony from 3 of the 21 Victims
Meanwhile, the Associated Press published a report this weekend, filed by entertainment writer Andrew Dalton, who provided an extremely selective account of some of the accusations on the transcript.
The report also lists a writer in Chicago contributing to the report, which is headlined, “Women Say They Met Porn Actor Jeremy for Fun; Rape Came Next.”
The incidents selected by the AP for its story include details from only three of the 21 alleged victims, although Dalton also mentions some details that “many of the women” apparently testified about:
- Jane Doe 8: “‘Wouldn’t it be funny if we got a picture and an autograph from him?’ one woman […] said she remembered telling her friend when they saw Jeremy in 2013 at a West Hollywood bar and grill. He would sexually assault her minutes later, testified the woman, one of several who said their attacks came in the same small bathroom.”
- Jane Doe 7: “‘I was like, wow, you know, this is Ron Jeremy, I mean, I was kind of impressed. I’m like he’s — I don’t want to say 'celebrity,' but you know, he kind of was,’ said another woman […] when Jeremy came to the door of the Hollywood hotel room she was sharing with friends, where the porn actor would rape her soon after, according to her testimony.”
- Jane Doe 5: “Some didn’t even recognize him initially, but they came into his orbit because of the air of fame around him. A woman whom Jeremy is charged with sexually assaulting when she was 15 in 2004 said she approached him at a rave he was hosting in Santa Clarita, California. ‘I didn’t know who he was, but I just — everyone told me he was famous so I was excited to meet a celebrity,’ said the woman, now 33. […] After they met, he invited her backstage, where he asked her if she wanted to see ‘something cool,’ then lifted her in the air, put his hand under her skirt and molested her, she said.”
Dalton added some details from the transcript about Jeremy’s alleged MO.
“He was a popular regular at the Rainbow Bar and Grill on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, where he had permission to use the employee bathroom,” noted the AP writer. “He would lure women there by offering to show them the kitchen where the restaurant made its famous pizzas, or by telling them he knew a bathroom they could use when the public restrooms were closed after last call. He would follow them into the small space, lock the door behind them, use his considerable size to block them from leaving, then rape them or engage in other sexual assault, several women testified.”
XBIZ will provide a more detailed account of the allegations against Jeremy as soon as the court reporter makes the information available.
[Update, 9/10/21, 12 p.m.: the article original has been updated with a clarification of grand jury secrecy standards and of when Assistant DA Thompson told the defense they would be able to receive more information about the allegations against Jeremy.]
For XBIZ's ongoing coverage of the Ron Jeremy case, click here.
