Joe Francis and the Case of the Extremely Messy Prosecution
As you probably remember from every newspaper article written about America’s declining ethical standards since Lewinskygate, Joe Francis is the man behind the hugely successful Girls Gone Wild franchise. He’s a miraculous entrepreneur who discovered that a crappy handicam, a couple of Jello shots and a pair of breasts (preferably aged 18 to 21) could become an incredibly lucrative platform for establishing a business.
Well, Joe Francis went to jail. He’s been charged with tax evasion and he’s currently awaiting trial in Florida, stemming from a 2003 incident where he got into a tiff with some officials in Spring Break Ville, U.S.A. VH1 created a show that documents Francis’ rise and fall; called Girls Gone Wild: Joe Francis on Trial, the program features interviews with a slew of people, including the lawyer featured in our syndicated player above. His name is Steve Meadows and he’s the State Attorney of Panama City, Florida. He’s angered Francis’ lawyers, specifically an attorney named Roy Black. In a press release sent out today, Black alleges that “Mr. Meadows has repeatedly sought to portray Mr. Francis to potential jurors as an ‘enemy combatant’ to the point where Mr. Francis will never find an objective jury to listen to his factual accounts of what really happened in Panama City, Fla., during Spring Break in 2003.” How did Meadows do that? Well, he did it in the interview above. Black states that “Mr. Meadows violated the rules of the Florida Bar and Mr. Francis’ Constitutional right to due process by proclaiming Mr. Francis guilty of smuggling drugs into the jail and stating that evidence already thrown out by the judge, which jurors would never see, proves his guilt.” So Black filed a motion to dismiss the charges against Francis. It’s a mess. If you’re wondering what specifically the scuttlebutt was back in ‘03, it’s complicated, but suffice to say that Francis was originally arrested on 71 different counts, some of which included drug trafficking, racketeering and child pornography. Earlier this year, however, a judge dismissed almost all of the allegations.
All this makes us wonder: Should the Joe Francis biopic be directed by Scorsese or Polanski?
Related Content
Show: Girls Gone Wild - Joe Francis Trial Show Page
Photos: Joe Francis | Lindsay Lohan | Paris Hilton
Video: Joe Francis’ Prosecutor Speaks
