Girls Gone Wild founder and CEO Joe Francis spent nearly 12 months in jail, not because he was convicted of a crime, but because he’d been denied his 8th Amendment Constitutional right to bail. Certain corrupt officials in a small Florida town seemed intent on making some sort of example of him.
Francis was sent to jail by a Panama City, Florida judge because he would not settle a civil (for money) lawsuit brought against him by a lawyer who happened to be the judge’s friend and ex-law partner. The judge found Francis in civil contempt of court for not settling the lawsuit but cited no legal basis for ordering Francis to jail in a civil matter. The judge used the fact that Francis showed up four days late to turn himself in for the illegal "settle or jail" order to charge him with criminal contempt. The new trumped-up charge of criminal contempt gave the judge a legal basis to hold Francis in jail.
Francis' whole legal situation started Spring Break 2003 in Panama City when officials tried to block Girls Gone Wild and Francis from coming to their town to film. Francis responded by filing a First Amendment lawsuit against Panama City as well as the Mayor, the Sheriff, and the Chief of Police, individually. Francis was victorious in his First Amendment lawsuit forcing city officials to back down. This enraged the Panama City officials and they have pursued Francis with a vengeance ever since.
In order to distract from Francis' First Amendment plight, two weeks after Francis' victory over the city officials, Panama City charged Francis with a staggering list of 71 criminal charges carrying a potential prison sentence of 335 years if Francis was convicted. The laundry list of charges against Francis included everything from drug trafficking to racketeering. Prior to these charges Francis had never been arrested or in trouble with the law in his entire life. Panama City officials seized Francis’ private jet and announced in a press release that a "quantity of cocaine" had been found on the plane. This claim, as well as many others made by the Sheriff’s Department, turned out to be completely false.
The basis for the original criminal charges against Francis involve an incident during Spring Break 2003 in which a cameraman, not directly employed by “Girls Gone Wild”, filmed sexual situations involving two seventeen year old women who lied about their ages, claiming to be eighteen, on camera and in written releases in order to appear on “Girls Gone Wild.” Joe Francis was not present and didn’t even meet the women until after the filming. The video of the women was never released by Girls Gone Wild.
Across the country, the vast majority of criminal defendants accused of everything from petty theft to murder are given bail. In fact, the 8th Amendment of the Constitution guarantees the right to bail. Despite the fact that Joe Francis had been declared neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community, he was kept behind bars without bail for over eleven months. Francis' legal team filed numerous motions requesting bail, but every request was turned down.
Why did the mayor of Panama City go on national television, call Joe Francis "scum sucking trash" and make the outrageous claim that Joe Francis and “Girls Gone Wild” were essentially banned from Panama City?
Why did Panama City authorities go after Joe Francis with such reckless disregard for the truth?
Why did the judge issue a “Settle or Jail” ultimatum forcing Francis to settle a civil lawsuit from a jail cell with the women who lied about their ages to appear on “Girls Gone Wild?”
Why was the judge, a former law partner of a lawyer representing the girls who lied about their ages, not disqualified from the case?
Why has Joe Francis been refused bail, when defendants charged with far worse crimes (like OJ Simpson and Phil Spector) are allowed to walk free?
Why did Florida District Attorney Steve Meadows commit a second degree felony in an attempt to keep Francis behind bars?
Why did Joe finally agree to plead "No contest" to lesser charges, even though he was not guilty of those charges? Joe’s legal ordeal makes a gripping but deeply disturbing story. Sound incredible? Read the full story, view all the supporting documents and decide for yourself.