Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Defense motions denied in Perry’s child porn case

Despite a defense attorney's suggestion that Franklyn Perry has been falsely accused of a non-existent crime, the 62-year-old Las Vegas resident will be going to trial on multiple sexual assault crimes next month.

District Judge Michael Douglas on Thursday denied a variety of motions filed by defense attorney Michael Cristalli in the 48-count case against Perry.

Perry is accused of both sexual assault and using a child in the production of pornography for allegedly persuading a 12-year-old girl to engage in sex acts while being photographed when he was incarcerated in 1998. He also allegedly caused the photographs to be delivered to him at the North Las Vegas jail.

Cristalli argued that it is unfair to charge Perry with both crimes, saying they are multiplicitous -- that you can't charge one of the crimes without the other.

The defense attorney also argued that "it is a legal impossibility for the state of Nevada to charge sexual assault, attempted sexual assault and lewdness over a telephone."

Cristalli asked how someone can sexually assault a person over the phone. While the photographs clearly show the girl engaged in sex acts, the photos are not dated and cannot be linked to telephone calls purportedly made by Perry, Cristalli said.

In fact, the alleged victim says all of Perry's calls were made before 5 p.m. and yet Perry didn't have access to jail telephones until after 6 p.m., Cristalli said.

"She did it on her own accord," Cristalli said.

Cristalli asked Douglas to dismiss the relevant counts and he also asked the judge to force the girl to undergo a psychological examination to determine her motivation in lodging the allegations.

"We believe this child was subjected to exposure to explicit sexual conduct in the past by (family members)," and then persuaded to lie about Perry, Cristalli said.

In fact, Cristalli said he believes a family member of the alleged victim has in her possession a videotape depicting her engaged in bestiality and one of the photographs depicts the girl doing the same.

Jail inmates are only allowed three to four minute phone calls and there is no way Perry could have explained how to engage in some of the acts caught in the photographs, Cristalli said.

Deputy District Attorney William Kephart argued that forcing the girl to tell her story yet again would be too traumatic, especially when Cristalli is merely engaging in a "fishing expedition."

"He can't tell you what they're looking for," Kephart said. "They're just hoping to find things."

Kephart said Perry did threaten the girl, telling her that if she did not perform the acts he would do them to her once he got out of jail.

"When you have a choice between this man and a little plastic toy what are you going to choose?" Kephart said.

Perry is charged with both sexual assault and using a minor in the production of pornography because each act is a crime, Kephart said.

In some of the photos, the girl is even holding a telephone -- which goes toward proving the photos are connected to Perry's phone calls, Kephart said.

The prosecutor said that he has plenty of evidence aside from the photos that prove Perry is guilty of everything he has been charged with.

Douglas said Cristalli hadn't provided a good enough reason for the psychological examination and it should be up to a jury as to whether Perry is guilty of both sexual assault and using a minor to produce porn.

As for Cristalli's argument that someone cannot be sexually assaulted via a phone, Douglas said Nevada's sexual assault laws are broad.

In part, the statute reads a person is guilty of sexual assault if he or she "subjects a person sexual penetration" through threats or force or when they know the victim is unable to resist physically or mentally.

Perry's trial is scheduled for Nov. 12.

He also is scheduled to go to trial next year on more than 500 security fraud charges.

archive