The Madness of Joe Francis: "I thought we were all just having fun. I was wrong." (36 page)

After the sidebar, Francis’s jaw was set in a tight line and he was obviously fighting back tears. He went to his table and sat down, pretending to write some notes in his pad while he composed himself. Dobos handed him a tissue and he blew his nose.

After a few minutes, Francis returned to the podium and took several deep breaths.

“I’m emotional. I’m on trial here, not you. You’re suing me.”

McCloy objected to the comments.

“You’re suing me,” Francis said somewhat absentmindedly, but the statement got him back on track. “What have I done to you? Why are you suing me?”

“Your company, you film underage girls. You have no idea what we girls go through.”

“What have I done to you? Tell me, please.”

“It’s just so hard to answer that, Mr Francis. For allowing your company to manufacture and produce videos of underage girls. It’s your company.”

“How have you been damaged? How much should this jury pay you? How much do you want? How much money do you want?”

She didn’t have a ready answer.

“Do you want money?”

McCloy objected.

“Were you in a public place when your exposed your breasts willingly?”

Yes.

“Did you take your top off yourself?”

“Well, yes sir. I did it. Yes sir. But those guys were pressuring me to do it.”

“Didn’t you just say you willing flashed your breasts?”

“Yes sir.”

“Is flashing a common practice for you?”

She looked at him without understanding.

Have you flashed before or after this?

“No sir.”

Francis asked her again what she did on the video.

“I already told you, I pulled my top up.”

“For less than two seconds?”

“Mr. Francis,” Smoak cautioned.

“We’ve got the video. We can show it if you’d like.”

“Yes,” she said, the word dripping with frustration. Yes as to the question about how long the flash was. “My gosh.”

When was the last time you smoked marijuana?

“Probably two years ago.”

“Remember, you’re under oath. You’re under the threat of perjury.”

“What are you talking about?”

Objection. Move on to another subject.

“You were teased in high school? Boys wanted to get with you. None of that ever happened before you willing exposed your breasts for Girls Gone Wild?”

No.

“And Girls Gone Wild destroyed your life? It made you smoke crack cocaine?”

“Yes sir. It led up to that.”

“Exposing your breasts willingly in public was the cause of all your problems?”

“It was the start of it. Yes sir.”

How?

“Because I was 15 years old and I was violated.” She was wailing now, wiping tears from under her eyes constantly. “I was pressured into it. I didn’t think it was going to go nationwide.”

“Mr. Francis, it is time for you to stop and sit down,” Smoak said.

Francis pressed on. He asked her about a statement she made to law enforcement. He wanted to read a portion of it, but McCloy objected.

“Mr. Francis, I’ve already ruled on that.”

“I apologize. I’m almost done here.”

“Had you ever heard of Girls Gone Wild?”

“No sir.”

You said a guy spit in your face.

“He called me a whore and spit in my face.”

“What was his name?”

McCloy popped out of his seat and objected.

“Mr. Francis, this is not material.”

“It’s material if I want to call him in here and ask him if this really happened. I don’t believe the witness. I don’t believe she’s credible.”

“You’re so rude,” S exclaimed, sniffling into her tissue.

Have you accrued any medical bills “because of this two-second exposure of your breasts, willingly, on Girls Gone Wild?”

“I’m not sure of that.”

“Have you spent anything on medical bills as a result of willingly showing your breasts for two seconds on Girls Gone Wild?”

She had to buy some medication for depression.

OK. What kind of medication?

She wasn’t sure.

How much did you spend?

She wasn’t sure.

“How much are you claiming in lost wages? In total dollars, how much have you lost in wages?”

“I haven’t lost any wages.”

McCloy objected, saying Francis was just repeating himself.

“I have nothing further,” Francis said, collected his notes and sat down.

McCloy asked S a few more questions.

It really wasn’t about the two seconds she was on video, was it?

No.

Didn’t the trauma stem from the 11 years that the video has been out in the public?

“It’s been out there most of your life.”

“Yes sir.”

McCloy was done. Francis wanted to ask her a few more questions.

“No sir,” Smoak said. “Sit down.”

S got up, dabbed at her eyes, and walked quickly out of a door that was beside the jury box. Before the door closed, S said in a loud wail, “He’s so mean.” The door eased shut on the sound of her sobbing.

Plaintiff J entered through the same door. She was harder looking than her sister, a little huskier and wearing dark eye liner. Her blonde-streaked hair was cut in a short bob.

They went through her background as well: straight-A student, daddy’s girl, normal family and not much of a trouble-maker. She also repeated much of what S had said about the actual flashing: they thought it was for personal use; the cameraman pestered them for 15-20 minutes. But J said the cameraman also asked her to pull her pants down. Then the cameraman tossed some beads into the car and left.

“I thought it was just some random guy with a camera and we’d never hear about it again.”

A few months later, when the video was released, they heard about it from a friend. She was labeled a “whore” and a “slut.”

“I got the nickname ‘GGW’ for the longest time.”

Boys started asking her to do sexual favors and grabbing her in the school hallways. She began to skip school and failing her classes.

Her friends abandoned her.

“I felt very ashamed. I was disgusted at myself for the choice I had made. I was the one that had liquor in the locker because it could get me through the day.”

She tried to kill herself twice, in 2003 and 2004. She was hospitalized both times and received psychological treatment.

She’d also gotten involved with abusive men and had three children out of wedlock with two different guys.

“Objection, your honor, relevance.” Francis said. He scoffed when the judge overruled him. He was not trying to hide his contempt for Plaintiff J.

She was now working security for a private company.

Would she benefit from therapy?

Sure.

Does it bother her that her video is still out there?

“I’d give anything to have them, every single one of them, back.”

Does she blame Girls Gone Wild for all her problems?

“I made a bad choice. I have to live with that every day. I’m trying to move on.”

Did you know who Joe Francis and Girls Gone Wild were at that time? Did you and your sister conspire with one another to target GGW?

No.

Joe Francis began his cross-examination with a cordial greeting.

“How ya doin?” he said to J.

He asked her about her family and her parents’ marriage. Then he asked her about the video. It was the same question he hammered her sister with a short while before: how long did the incident last?

But J had the answer ready.

“Two seconds.”

Have you ever met me before?

“You do look familiar.”

“I was not there.”

“You do look similar to him (the cameraman), yes.”

“Had you ever heard of me before this litigation?”

“I cannot be sure.”

“Do you have a problem telling the truth?”

No. He asked her to describe the flashing incident again. She was in the backseat, behind S who was in the front passenger seat. She saw S flash and thought, “Why not?” She’s not sure why she did it.

Had she talked to anyone about her testimony before taking the stand, or during any breaks?

Smoak wasn’t happy with that question and instructed Francis to move on. But Francis thought she’d been coached and asked her again if she’d discussed her testimony with anyone.

“All they told me was to be strong and tell the truth.”

Smoak told him again to move on to another subject.

Was she working now? No, she’d taken time off.

Her 18-year-old sister had been driving the car that day, right?

Yes.

Did she show her breasts?

No.

Why isn’t the 12-year-old a plaintiff in this case as well?

Her mother is in the military and it would have damaged her career.

Had she had any alcohol during the day prior to flashing?

Objection.

You admit that the total length of time you were on film was two seconds?

“It doesn’t matter about the length of time. I still did it. I was still made fun of. I was still groped.”

And all of your problems stem from this incident? He made a snide comment about her three kids and having never been married.

Smoak told him to stop with the comments.

“Just ask questions and get it over with,” the judge said.

You’re still recognized?

No, not really.

“So, this is over for you?”

“I didn’t get to go to college. I didn’t get to go to prom.”

And all of that is GGW’s fault?

“I did make that choice. I take full responsibility. But I was 13 years old. I should not have been allowed to make that choice. You are the one that sold it to hundreds of thousands of people. Not me.”

So you take full responsibility?

“I would say there was some pressuring.”

“You’re suing me in this lawsuit. How have I, Joe Francis, damaged you?”

“You sold thousands of tapes with me on it, when I was 13 years old.”

“I did?”

“Your company.”

“How have you been harmed? How much have you spent in medical bills because of the two seconds you were on tape?”

She had some bills from her suicide attempts, but didn’t know how much.

After every answer, Francis would repeat back what she said.

Smoak wanted this over with and kept telling him to move on with his questioning.

“I feel like I could have done better for myself,” Plaintiff J said.

You tried to kill yourself twice? Why?

“I was tired of life. I made a bad choice being on GGW. That one choice led to a lot of other bad choices in my life. I don’t directly blame GGW. I made the decision. But what 13-year-old makes a decision like that?”

Francis went back to the cost of her medical bills and damages.

McCloy objected and Francis conceded.

“I will move on.”

Was she a willing participant in Girls Gone Wild? Yes or no?

Objection, she’s already answered that question.

“Are you asking for a percentage of the profits from the DVD in which you showed your breasts, willingly, for two seconds?”

“That is not a proper question,” Smoak said.

Francis paused and asked to approach sidebar, to ask Smoak if his next question was a proper one.

“Have you done illegal drugs?” he said when he returned to the podium.

Objection, outside the scope.

“We covered it with the other witnesses?”

Objection sustained.

“Do you take personal responsibility for your decision?”

Objection, asked and answered.

“How did I, Joe Francis, intentionally harm you?”

“I don’t know how to answer that.” She’d dropped out of school and lost job opportunities.

“Was I there?”

“Mr. Francis,” Smoak interrupted.

“What’s wrong?”

Move on.

Did you know that the footage of you flashing was licensed from a third party?

Objection. Smoak instructed the jury to disregard that statement. He told Francis if he continued going over material that he knew was off-limits he’d be held in contempt of court and sanctioned.

Francis resumed his questioning.

“How have I harmed you?”

“I don’t know how to answer that.”

Francis made another comment and Smoak again warned him to just ask questions.

But Francis was done. He ended his questioning and went back to his table.

McCloy went over a few more things with J.

You were depressed enough to try to kill yourself twice, he asked. And this whole episode in your life has lasted more than two seconds, with the video still out there. Do you expect it to stop anytime in the near future?

No.

Plaintiff J was done and Smoak called McCloy and Francis to the bench.

He could be heard scolding Francis for his behavior.

“You were abusive.”

More of that, Smoak said, and they would be talking about sanctions for contempt of court.

.

Chapter 39

“I was vulnerable”

M
cCloy and Francis returned to their tables and Plaintiff V was shown into the room.

She had short black hair, a small upturned nose and large, but tired looking eyes.

Pontikes went through her history: high school sports, decent student, “just a normal high school life.”

But V’s home life was a mess. Her father had beaten her since she was 6 years old. Her mother had died about six weeks before she’d had her encounter with Girls Gone Wild.

How did her mother’s death affect her?

“It made me feel lost. I was vulnerable. I didn’t know, really, who I was.”

She said she and four friends went driving on Front Beach Road after school when they saw the Girls Gone Wild van in front of them. The van’s driver, she said, asked them to pull into the parking lot of a gas station. Within a few minutes, he’d convinced two of her friends to go to the Chateau Motel and allow him to film them showering together. All five of them followed the cameraman to the motel room and while they were filming, she sat in another room.

Then Joe Francis came into the room and introduced himself.

“I don’t know how long it was before he walked into the bedroom and asked us to come in. He pulled us into the room. He had us sit down on the bed next to him and asked us to masturbate him.”