Evan Emory’s cunning attempt at musical comedy turned very serious, very quickly. The 21-year-old Michigan man won’t be laughing as he spends the next two months in the Muskegon County Jail.
The whole nightmare for Emory began when he posted a video of himself on YouTube singing a sexually explicit song to elementary school students. But before you take the side of law enforcement and the county, it’s not as raunchy and inappropriate as it sounds. The video was only edited to make it appear as if young children were in the classroom, even though they weren’t. Emory posted two disclaimers on the video that elementary school students were not exposed to the explicit lyrics.
The footage of the children was recorded in January when Emory performed a clean song for the class. It was only later that Emory returned to the empty classroom to record a vulgar song, which he edited with clips of the children and posted to YouTube in mid-February.
On Tuesday, Judge William C. Marietti of the Muskegon County 14th Circuit Court sentenced Emory under a previously arranged plea deal to 60 days in jail, two years probation, 200 hours of community service, mandatory counseling and fines and costs. And when he emerges from jail, Emory can’t be within 500 feet of children under the age of 17. All for a comedy attempt gone awry.
Emory in March pleaded no contest to the reduced charge of “unlawful posting of an Internet message with aggravating circumstances.” He had been charged with “manufacturing child pornography,” a charge that comes with a potential 20-year prison sentence.
Under the reduced charge, Emory will not have to sign up on the sex offender registry, which would have been the biggest crime committed by anyone involved in this case.
The video was taken off YouTube because of the lawsuit, and we’re unable to find a copy of it online. The judge in the case now considers it “contraband.” But some of the sexual lyrics in the song include: “I like the way you make your body move. C’mon, girl…See how long it takes to make your panties mine…I’ll add some foreplay in just to make it fun. I want to stick my index finger in your anus.”
Parents of the students from Beechnau Elementary featured in the short segment attended the sentencing hearing and applauded the decision. “It was lewd, it was disgusting, it was perverted,” parent Stephan Hellman told WWMT. “You are no longer a child, you are an adult. You should have known better.” Fellow parent Charles Willick said, “An innocence was taken, something we as parents try very hard to keep, something we hold sacred and dear was taken from the kids.”
Willick’s reactionary, inflammatory rhetoric begs the ultimate question: What innocence exactly was taken from the kids here? From their perspective, all they saw was a musician come in and sing them a happy, appropriate song — they were only exposed to the real thing. Emory only edited in the raunchy lyrics after the fact. So unless these first-graders have been surfing the Internet like 4chan pros and can dig up a copy of a video that doesn’t exist on the Internet, how would they have even seen the finished video?
The parents could not give permission (or any permission given would be void) because the sexual content of the material. It is not the lack of permission but the sexual content of the video with kids that makes it inappropriate and/or illegal.
ReplyDeleteThe child pornography laws are very detailed and he most likely did not understand at all that he was possibly crossing that line.
That said, sending him to jail is absurd. The end thing should be that he should have taken the video off youtube, end of story.
Sue- Thanks for your expertise! It is really hard to say with out seeing the video/song in context. I would find it hard to believe that the song was any more explicit than the condoms on cucumbers or sexual practices currently taught in the school system. NJ gives condoms to elementary students and no one is going to jail for that ("Here Billy this is a balloon for your wee wee"). I understand the intent of Child pornography laws but should they not apply to government agents as well? I feel that no harm was done until the parents subjected the kids to this video and proper relief would have been to pull this down, educate this "artist" and move along...now he is a sex offender for life. Way too harsh for bad taste!
ReplyDeleteMike, yes I am a lawyer and yes, I do deal with this area of the law. You definitely have misinformation on the law - and these are important laws to know about today. Child pornography laws in many states include things such as: taking a picture of a person under 18 in a coy or come-hither pose, using children in any photo or video that could entice anyone sexually (such as the video Evan Emory made showing children laughing at a sex song), showing persons under 18 engaging in sex acts, whether real or simulated -- and whether the person is actually under 18, the character played is under 18, or even if it is an animated character. There have been child pornography cases where the material was a drawing made by hand in a person's private notebook, etc. //
ReplyDeleteIt is legally NOT possible for a person under 18 or for his or her parent or guardian to give permission for the child to be in anything that could be child pornography, since you cannot give permission for your children to do something illegal.
For example, if a 17 year old wants to pose for a sexy pic, any permission her parent signs is void and the producer of the pic is creating child porn. So too, if that girl lies or even shows a false ID. This was the case (or might have been the case) in one of the Girls Gone Wild situations, where the producer ended out in prison (is maybe still there?) when some girls lied about their ages.
Child pornography laws are federal and also each state has some, and the standards vary state to state. If it is on the internet, you can be charged with the law of ANY state!
I also think you misunderstand Evan's case. It sounds like with the plea deal, he was NOT charged with any sort of sex offense or child porn offense, but rather with some vague (and possibly unconstitutional) law about posting something on the internet that causes trouble.
The BEST thing to do is NEVER depict any child under 18 for real or in a character or even animated -- in ANY kind of sexual situation or in conjunction with ANY sexual material or any material that could be construed to be sexual or sexy. The Child Pornography laws across the board allow for forfeiture of the offender's home, car, money, belongings, etc., as well as calling for extremely harsh prison sentences. it is SO important not to fall into such a trap by accident or innocently - as seems to have happened with Evan.
And for those who purposely make such materials -- get yourself to a doctor and try to get better. you are sick sick sick.