Joe Francis released from jail, pulls card from Larry Craig playbook.

March 13, 2008 at 3:25 pm in Celebrity, Law

Joe Francis, founder of “Girls Gone Wild,” is back in Los Angeles after spending a year behind bars at Florida and Nevada jails.

On Wednesday, pending his release, Francis plead “no contest” to charges of child abuse and prostitution in Florida.

This morning at a news conference held at the Beverly Hilton, Francis reversed course and said he was “100% innocent” of the same charges he’d admitted guilt to less than 24 hours before.

“I was being held illegally without bail,” he told about two dozen reporters gathered in a small meeting room in the Beverly Hilton Hotel. “I chose to take it simply to get out of jail, not because I committed any crime.”

The situation bare some similarities to Idaho Senator Larry Craig, who plead guilty to charges of disorderly conduct for soliciting sex in a men’s restroom, only to later reverse his plea when the court case became public. Craig continues to maintain his innocence and that he is not gay.

Joe Francis’s guilty plea is to a 2003 incident where two 17-year-old girls were filmed by a Girls Gone Wild cameraman in Panama City. Of his imprisonment, Francis complained that law enforcement there made him feel “scum-sucking trash.”

He still faces charges of tax evasion in Nevada.

…story: LA Times… photo by idiolector, used under Creative Commons…

9 Comments »

http://pacifist.net doran

Ohhhhh, judges no like when a defendant says one thing in court and another in public. Saying things like he’s “100% innocent” and that he copped to nolo contendere “simply to get out of jail” are the kind of utterances which could get him invited back to the courthouse.
http://fadein.la Jason Burns

I kinda like Joe Francis. He makes me feel like less of a douchebag.
http://soledadenmasa.wordpress.com soledadenmasa

Francis complained that law enforcement there made him feel “scum-sucking trash.”

Maybe because he comes off as one?
http://frazgomeanders.blogspot.com frazgo

The man is tempting fate, never piss off a judge by making public statements like that, especially after a year in jail already. Then again maybe he enjoyed it and wanted a fast pass back?
http://soledadenmasa.wordpress.com soledadenmasa

Nah, I think the next judge he faces will throw the book at him for this stupid statement. I hope it is thrown at him.
http://frazgomeanders.blogspot.com frazgo

And I hope it hits him hard.
helenbedd2

He is such a TOOL. That judge in Florida was a badass. I hope he calls him back again. It’s actually a shock to me that anyone bothered to even show at his press conference.
gishgali

I think Joe Francis is dispicable and I hate to sound like I am defending him, but this post points out the dangers of mistaking blog entries as news. Francis is wanted in Florida for not accepting a settlement that the judge ordered him to accept. The women suing him were being represented by the judge’s ex-law partner. Granted, Francis was already hated for being who he is and for insulting the local legal system, but you can’t have a judge order you to accept a bad settlement. That is a huge perversion of the legal system.
http://davidmarkland.com David Markland

“This post points out the dangers of mistaking blog entries as news.”

I would agree with you, but I don’t see how I misrepresented this situation in any way. If my lack of details is one of the dangers of blogs, you should take a careful look at the LA Times article I cited and any other number of mainstream sources to see if they bring up your details.

BTW, feel free to leave a link to whatever source you’re citing.

I know there’s Joe Francis’ side of the story, but the fact remains he plead guilty, and so legally he is considered guilty, and there is no libel in saying he abused children and engaged in prostitution.

Joe Francis released from jail, pulls card from Larry Craig playbook.

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