CDBabes owner Mike Jones was arrested for obscenity and child pornography in 2001. He has since sold CDBabes to another company.
The judge had originally 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.'
Judge Prather determined that the search warrant used in the Jones case authorized a "general search" for obscene and underage materials, but that it lacked particularity that might direct and limit the officers as to what they were to seize.
She further determined that the search itself devolved into a constitutionally impermissible "general search" and that it amounted to an improper prior restraint on free speech without adequate judicial oversight.
According to Jones' attorney J.D. Obenberger, the officers at the scene seized adult tapes held for private purposes in two bedrooms, seized the computer that Jones' 14-year-old daughter used for schoolwork, almost all financial records, and every videotape, floppy disk, and computer in sight.
Instead of dismissing the case last Friday, Prather has decided to reconsider the right to suppress evidence, although there is a strong likelihood that she will deny the State's Attorney's motion. If the evidence is suppressed, it starts the clock for another 30 days in which the prosecution can file a motion to appeal.
"We believe the state's motion to reconsider is not supported by the law and we expect that Judge Prather will deny it," Obenberger told XBiz. "The state knows that Mike Jones never was a child pornographer. 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."
