problems with crowd control, and an excessive impact on the normal operation of Westerly Police Department. On September 19, 1990, the clubs owners filed a motion with the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island for a temporary restraining order. On September 28, 1990, the court ruled that the councils review of the effects of the concert before it had taken place constituted prior restraint (Atlantic Beach v. Morenzoni 1990). Do the Freeman and the Second 2 Live Crew Trials On October 3, 1990, Charles Freeman was convicted by a jury trial at Broward County. Rogow (1991) notes that the jury selection was based on racially biased voter registration lists and, consequently, Judge Paul Backman ruled with a jury of three men and eight upper-middle class white women (including "a 76 year-old former sociology professor" who "taught at Howard University during the 1960s", Rogow 1991:257). The jury members were instructed by the judge that they could rule on obscenity without the aid of expert testimony. Unfortunately, the defenses entire case was based upon expert testimony. Freeman, after his conviction, yelled that the "white jury" did not know anything about the ghetto. On October 20, 1990, the three arrested members of 2 Live Crew were found not guilty by a Broward County jury (four white women, a black woman and one white male) for their Club Futura performance (Morant 1992:20; Beatty 1991:626; Furer 1991:492). Written transcripts of the recordings made by the undercover agents during the club performance were excluded from the trial hearings (it had taken the policemen five working days to prepare the transcripts). Tape recordings were accepted but were incomprehensible due to the poor sound quality of the cassettes (Rogow 1991). Prosecutor Pedro Dijols afterwards said that "our officers suffered from stage fright and were distracted by the distorted tapes in making statements to the jury" (quoted in Anderson 1990:29). Expert testimony at th...
