Joe Francis Goes Wild on Prosecutor

Tue., Oct. 23, 2007 3:44 PM PDT by Sarah Hall

Joe Francis is on the offensive.

The Girls Gone Wild guru's Miami attorney, Roy Black, filed a prosecutorial misconduct motion against Florida State Attorney Steve Meadows Tuesday, alleging that Meadows has exhibited a "pattern of blatant abuse" in his dealings with Francis.

Among other things, Black takes issue with Meadows' decision to be interviewed for the VH1 documentary The Rise and Fall of Joe Francis, in which Meadows repeatedly expressed his belief that Francis was guilty of the charges against him, which include two counts each of using and conspiring to use minors in a sexual performance.

David Houston, another of Francis' attorneys, said in a statement: "In our country, a defendant is innocent until proven guilty. But in Bay County, Florida, Joe Francis is only innocent until Mr. Meadows' makeup is applied, the sound check is finished and TV cameras start rolling."

Black also claims Meadows has jeopardized Francis' right to a fair trial by publicly portraying him as a despicable character, thereby lowering his chances of finding unbiased individuals to serve on a jury.

"State Attorney Steve Meadows' pursuit and prosecution of Mr. Francis has instead turned into a public persecution," Black wrote in his motion.

As a result of Meadows' actions, Black is requesting that the case against Francis be dismissed.

For now, the Florida case against the soft-porn magnate is on hold while Francis awaits trial on federal tax-evasion charges in Nevada.

Though he has yet to be convicted of a crime, the Girls guy has been cooling his heels in a Reno prison since May. Before he was extradited to Nevada, he served 35 days in a Florida jail for contempt of court.

The start date for his tax trial has been pushed to April 2008, while his next pretrial hearing in Florida has been scheduled for Jan. 9.

The charges against Francis stem from footage he shot over spring break 2003 of allegedly underage women performing sex acts on one another. He faces an additional count of smuggling prescription medication into the Bay City Jail in April.

Last week, he scored a legal victory when two young women who were suing him for allegedly using footage of them in a Girls Gone Wild production without their consent abruptly dropped their lawsuit.

"We have agreed to dismiss our lawsuit and acknowledge that no money has been paid to either of us," Brooke Patsolic and Christina Brose said in a statement. In return, Francis agreed not to file a countersuit against them—though that's not to say all was forgiven.

"I am tired of these lies being used against me in an attempt to extort money from me and destroy my name," he said in a statement. "I am prepared to fight back, and I will defend myself against all baseless allegations against me."