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Gregory Rec / AP
Mark Strong, Sr. talks with his attorney Dan Lilley after Justice Nancy Mills dropped most of the charges against Strong in January.
Prosecutors in Maine will seek Wednesday to reinstate dozens of charges dropped against a man who is accused of helping a Zumba instructor run a prostitution ring from her studio in the seaside town of Kennebunk.
Forty-six misdemeanor counts against Mark Strong, Sr., 57, were dropped in January by Judge Nancy Mills, leaving 13 counts, including promotion of prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The judge decided to halt the trial pending an appeal of her decision to drop the charges, all of which have to do with invasion of privacy.
Dance instructor Alexis Wright is accused of using her Pura Vida Zumba studio as a front – she’s been charged with 106 counts, including engaging in prostitution. She has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, and is expected to go on trial later this year.
The charges of invasion of privacy against Wright and Strong are based on the accusation that Wright secretly videotaped herself engaging in sexual acts with her clients.
Accused Zumba pimp trial begins in disorder
Persons engaging in criminal acts do not have the same right to privacy enjoyed by other people, the trial judge said last month.
The alleged patrons “may have had a subjective expectation of privacy, but I can’t find an objective expectation of privacy that society would be prepared to accept,” Mills said in court in January.
Prosecutors will seek to have those charges reinstated on Wednesday in Maine’s Supreme Judicial Court.
“The state’s position on this appeal is contrary to reason, common sense, and the interests of society,” defense attorney Dan Lilley wrote in a brief submitted on January 27.
Zumba prostitution case stalls in second week
Strong’s case in York County Superior Court was a puttering non-starter at the end of January, as jury selection that was expected to take a day dragged on a week, interrupted first by a case filed by a local newspaper to gain access to closed jury proceedings.
The trial was then stopped entirely when the charges were dropped against Strong. Jury selection could begin quickly after the Maine high court’s ruling.
Attorneys for Wright filed an amicus brief in support of Strong in the Supreme Judicial Court on Feb. 4, stating that Wright has “a vested interest in the resolution of this appeal.”
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What a bunch of tools! There efforts to shame the participants in what SHOULD be a legal transaction has backfired on them. After we get weed resolved, prostitution will be next.
Prostitution should definitely be legalized. I have a really hard time understanding why it is illegal.
Extortion, blackmail, infections. Sorry not to night dear I might have the clap want to see what I've been doing without you?? Since I'm so honist you can just ignore the pictures that will be coming by email.
Bubba - Your reasons for maintaining the illegality of prostitution apply to sex in general, not just prostitution. Do you propose that all sex should be outlawed?
So your wife or girlfriend can extort and blacmail you and she has the clap, now what has she been doing? I'd dump em! Try thinking before you post!
I did not say I was against it, here is the last one Organized Crime!
The top reason it should never be legal, it will be regulated by the Government!!!!! They can F*&^ anything.......up.
A trial judge stated "Persons engaging in criminal acts do not have the same right to privacy enjoyed by other people. Better head on back to those community college law classes judge.
It's the same as one criminal stealing from another criminal during a heist and trying to call it theft - you lose many of your pre-existing rights while committing criminal acts.
Man charges were already DROPPED so KEEP them DROPPED!!!! There was no harm no foul that is till the names were made public!!! That was @!$%#ed up I say, there was no reason to make the names public!!! Put your focus on the hideous crimes going on out there & leave these people alone!!! I'm sure they will steer clear from this situation in the future!!
If the woman's name was made public, so should the men! Equality?
Because anyone's name can be in someone's contact list. If I ever thought about committing a crime, I'd manufacture records of the local police and prosecutors assisting me. The press would be all over that, and their lives would be ruined with no evidence. This is simply because the real trial is in the press, and they don't believe in innocence until proven guilty.
Once again, only the woman gets prosecuted? It is illegal to be a prostitute, it is also illegal to be a pimp or a John! Prosecute fairly!
I do agree with Hawkeye, just legalize prostitution already. It's been going on forever and it's not likely to ever end.
Legalize it, Regulate it, and Tax it.
Agreed!!! Either legalize it, or prosecute ALL participants equally, regardless of whether some "outstanding" community leaders were involved, or whether families would be shamed! Stop the protection game!
Do you realize that banking was invented because of this profession. During Roman times when soldiers were in the field and away from home they sent women to them for comfort and pleasure. The Roman Empire had to have some way of paying these ladies and walaaa.... The invention of banking.... That is why it is known as "The Oldest Professsion". Men who are going to stray will and those who wont... wont.... IT is a matter of being in a secure relationship and honouring it or not. If it were recognized as a legal business the issues of health and taxes would be resolved. I really don't think any law will put a stop to this no matter your station in life but....punish one..... punish all...IT takes two to make it happen....
So stupid, and what a waste of taxpayer money to impose their morality. Beware extremists from either the left or the right.
All i can say , Release those damn tapes so we can watch them . Love to see those pathetic town politicians and cops try to get it on with this Zumba woman. From tho photos of her, i just don't see how some of these folks could get it up and get it on. Most people would pay to see this. Who knows , if they charged the town could get its finances in order.
Always kind of heart warming to watch the legal beagles engaging in pack canabalism . . .
I just cna't help but think about all the money getting flushed down the toilet for this.
She is kind of a rough looking ol' ho, but pickin's can be kind of slim downeast.
Just legalize it, tax and regulate.
The prostitutes serving in Congress do much more harm than this poor woman.
She's 29, and I disagree about her looking rough, she's not stunning but she is attractive.
http://cloudfront4.bostinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/AlexisWright.jpg
http://cloudfront3.bostinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Alexis-Wright-14.jpeg
Would I? Yes. Still she's what us downeasters refer to as beat meat.
Maine -- You're spending way too much taxpayer money on this bull. Find something more important to go after. And if there isn't anything more important, then fire some of your prosecutors. We taxpayers shouldn't be footing the bill for this stuff. If it wasn't for religious fundamentalists it would be legal anyway.
THIS! THIS right here is what causes situations like Aaron Schwartz and whomever killed that DA in Texas. Old laws that the majority of Americans think shouldn't even be a law. Then add in an overzealous prosecutor who piles on FORTY SEVEN charges so that the guy is scared he'll spend the rest of his life in prison to force him to plea bargain. This is sad. I'm f-ing tired of it. Let people live their own lives. You don't like hookers? Don't bang hookers. Leave others alone to live their lives.
It is situations like this that lead people to support Chris Dorner like they have been over the last week. The application of archaic laws that the majority of Americans don't support but don't fight because the laws don't affect them. THINK!! This crap must stop. If I want to bang a hooker, I'm gonna do it. Why? Because I want to, first of all. And secondly because it's like speeding. One of of literally a million people who speed/bangs a hooker actually gets caught. But, man o man, end up being the one who gets caught and they throw the book at ya. Ridiculous.
I always thought zumba was a front for something. Now I know.
The more you know......
You never heard the rumble. You have a summer home right across the street.
What happened to publishing the list? They stopped with the excuse that the holiday, Thanksgiving, set them back.
How long does it take to get back on track. I'm waiting to see that one well known name in the community.
Is he a newsman celebrity? A car dealer celebrity? Or . . . .?
It's a big joke out here where it's legal!
PUBLISH THE REST OF THE LIST, WILL YOU?
I want the reast of the list releasd. To many people are buying their way out of trouble. It's not right. I'm from the area and I could care less about prostitution but the lawis the law. I'm downright bitter about it. I have a history of drug use and don't hide it. No trafficking or assault charges just possesion and OUI's. I had ny name spilled across Southern maine papers for a series of minor charges and that was never a problem. I even had an article written about me selling drugs to a minor. An off-duty police officer called me in for something he thought he saw. They charged me with trafficking, jailed me and I waited six weeks till the bag of goodies in his pockets came back negative for my DNA and prints. Two weeks after that they let me go and dropped the charges. Anyways my point is why should the privelaged be able to buy their way out. I'm not sure anything I did (OUI's are different, my bad) was any worse than the prostitution. If we want to legalize prostitution fine. I have no problem with that. I do have a problem with privelaged people getting off due to their name. Any "normal citizen would have their name in the local summons report for "soliciting prostitution." I know some of these people and they are the same people that have arrested "street gals" and put them and others away for prostitution charges. They have no right to rig the results which is exactly what they are doing. Prostitution was a crime when they committed it. Legalizing it is a whole nother topic.