Santa Ana : Venue Change Asked in Adult Movie House Case

The city’s 10-year court battle against the Mitchell Bros. adult movie theater has been delayed while the state Court of Appeal considers a request from theater attorneys to move the trial outside Orange County.

Tom Steel, an attorney representing the theater, said that owners Artie and James Mitchell of San Francisco do not believe they can get a fair trial here because the plaintiff in the case against them is Santa Ana.

The city is seeking a Superior Court ruling to have the approximately 1,000 films shown at the movie house during the past 10 years declared obscene, said attorney James Clancy, who is representing Santa Ana. “Every one of these films has the same content,” he said. “There’s nothing that isn’t obscene.”

If it is successful, the city then plans to ask the court to shut down the theater, or have the owners pay Santa Ana’s court costs for the past 10 years of litigation.

Clancy was skeptical about the theater’s request for a change of venue--filed with the three-member 4th District Court of Appeal in San Bernardino--noting that a similar request was rejected four years ago.

In that case, the city persuaded the court to rule that several films shown at the theater were obscene, but the movie theater continued to operate.

Steel said that the theater lost its prior request for a change of venue because the motion was filed the day before the case went to court. “We just feel the court didn’t have enough time to review the case the last time,” he said.

He added that an adverse court ruling wouldn’t shut down the theater even if all 1,000 films are declared obscene. “We have more,” he said. “I don’t really understand why they’re doing it. Seems like a waste of money to me.”

However, the city believes that, according to a recent U.S. Supreme Court pornography decision, the courts can now issue “due and proper” relief in such cases, Clancy said.