PORTLAND, Maine — A Superior Court justice scolded state prosecutors Tuesday for disorganized and inaccessible evidence — including what a prosecutor said were indications of child pornography — against Mark Strong and his alleged associate Alexis Wright. The two are being accused of running a prostitution business out of Wright’s Kennebunk fitness studio.
The admonition from Justice Nancy Mills came during a Cumberland County Superior Court hearing in Portland.
Both Wright and Strong pleaded not guilty to a slew of charges tied to the alleged prostitution during their arraignments Tuesday, which took place concurrently in Portland.
Daniel Lilley, the attorney representing Strong, told Mills during the hearing in Cumberland County Superior Court that a “mish-mash” of documents piled into boxes, as well as a computer hard drive, had been delivered to his office as evidence against his client by prosecutors. But he said he and his associates have struggled to correlate the documents in the boxes with an accompanying index, and have further been unable to access the videos, photographs and other incriminating evidence prosecutors allege are on the hard drive.
Lilley based a motion to dismiss the charges against his client on what he described as the state’s inability to comply with the court’s demand to turn over its evidence against his client.
Mills did not rule on the motion to dismiss, but did admonish prosecutors on their delivery of the evidence to Lilley, calling for a discovery conference to take place between all parties on Oct. 18, at which all documents must be clearly labeled and sorted in such a way that the defense attorneys can follow them. She also suggested that the necessary technology be made available for the defense attorneys to access the hard drive, which prosecutors said contained eight terabytes of data, including videos, photographs and e-mails.
“At some point, the defendant’s rights will come into play, if they haven’t already,” Mills said. “This is unacceptable for the defendants to be indicted and then to be handed a box of documents like this.”
While Deputy District Attorney Justina McGettigan, representing the state in court Tuesday, disagreed that the evidence so far turned over has been disorganized, she acknowledged that prosecutors are withholding some evidence, including a computer in which she said investigators found “markers” indicating the presence of child pornography.
Lilley and Strong shook their heads in apparent disbelief at the reference in court. After leaving the courthouse, Lilley bristled at the mention of child pornography, saying prosecutors had previously told him in writing there was no such evidence on any of the eight computers investigators had seized.
“There is no child pornography in this case,” he told reporters, adding that McGettigan’s comment is a sign that state prosecutors are “flip-flopping” and don’t fully understand their own case.
Strong, 57, was indicted last week on 59 criminal charges. Those include 12 counts of promotion of prostitution, two counts of conspiracy and 45 counts of invasion of privacy with an inside device. The latter charges refer to the clients of the business being videotaped without their knowledge or consent. All the charges, except the two conspiracy counts, are Class D offenses which carry a maximum jail sentence of a year in jail. The conspiracy counts are Class E crimes which carry a maximum penalty of six months in jail.
Wright, 29, was indicted on 106 criminal charges. Those include failure to pay taxes in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Other offenses include engaging in prostitution, promotion of prostitution, violation of privacy with an inside device, conspiracy, unsworn falsification, evasion of income tax and felony theft.
Mills is overseeing the high-profile prostitution case after Justice Joyce Wheeler recused herself from the case, in which more than 100 individuals are alleged to have been clients of the operation.
After the hearing Tuesday, Strong and Wright left the courtroom separately without speaking to each other or members of the media.
BDN reporter Stephen Betts contributed to this story.
Trying to discredit hard working people with allergations of child porn…
There must be some high profile people in this case and the prosecutions has it panties in a bunch.. They want them to plead down so to hide the evidence.
When I read the first article about this case, I wondered who had ticked off whom. It seems to be a case of vendetta, rather than a case of criminal action, imnsho.
I agree. Where does one get their reputations back, much less dispute the child porn charges, even when the prosecutor initially said there was no child porn.
The child porn charge is the charge that will ultimately sully Mark Strong’s reputation ! Other than that, he has only been a pimp for Alexis Wright’s “Zumba” monkeyshines. What’s the big deal about an Insurance Agent doing a little pimping on the side? Leave the poor guy alone! (so he can get his reputation back)
The prosecutors seem a bit inept, but just wait until the IRS audits the two of them (Strong and Wright)…….irregardless of the child porn allegations these two are pure and simple grifters involved in multiple criminal acts.
Mark and Elixis are lucky, normally just the mention of a Child is enough to get a man convicted. No real evidence is necessary. Thousands have been convicted of crimes they did not commit, and had their lives disrupted, based upon the simple word of a girl. Our system is corrupt, and worse, those in legislature are aware of this problem, but do absolutely noting about it.
Tou want to know why its because of tv programs like ncis they solve a case in one hour an the public thinks the same can happen in the real world but it can’t
Gonna be a lot of popcorn eaten before this case is done !
Perhaps these prosecutors are underpaid and therefore do a lousy job. Or, maybe they just don’t give a damn about presenting evidence in an orderly manner.
This is what you get on for lawyer that work for the state because they can’t get a job on the out side .
You can’t write a sentence that makes sense or, is readable, and you are slamming lawyers working for the state. Please!
State workers are always better and smarter than their private business counterparts.
You been smoking way too much pot if you believe that… Not all, but the majority are incompetent and can’t hack it in the private sector of business.
Obviously outinthepuckerbrush works for LePage….ha ha!
Is this really where we want our tax money to be spent and do we really want for all of the disruption to families caused by this? Either there is much more to the story or this is a witch hunt. We will find out before it is over. Great to see Justice Mills stand up for the system. It took integrity and courage.
Justice Mills didn’t stand up against the system. She stood up for the system that is in place to protect all of us. She rightly called the DA’s office out for their shoddy work.
I think he referring to the charges. The world’s oldest profession isn’t going to end anytime soon.
wow,, a real judge! nice…
What I like is lies didn’t work.
How unlike National politics is THAT ?
“Deputy District Attorney Justina McGettigan scowls at defense attorney Daniel Lilley’s……….”
Looks more like she is about to cry for the scolding that the Judge is giving her, for her sloppiness.
More likely she’s just showing her annoyance that once again a judge is letting Lilley’s unprofessional antics go unchallenged in the courtroom. Anyone actually interested in justice would be disgusted by his behavior.
Apparently you too have seen Lilly at work. He is nothing but a big cry baby. He got a client off on a murder charge for kil;ling their spouse way back when on a claim of post traumatic stress disorder and ever since thne has had half the prosecutors and judges scared to death of him. He thinks he and his shadows are to important to have to read threw discovery and want all the evidence pointed out to them. He is well known for making claims he can’t back up, like having it in writing from prosecutors that there was no child pornography involved. Bet you’ll never see him produce that letter!
i wonder what the final cost is going to be to prosecute this case?
It sounds like the prosecutor should be disbarred.
They’ve admitted to violating proper discovery … because of that, it would also be misconduct for the judges to FAIL to toss out the case.
If there is child pornography, then the prosecution needs to add that charge — and produce the evidence. If they fail to do BOTH, then they have lied to the court and, again, deserve to be disbarred.
If we were a just society, they would also be charged for court costs and open to civil actions by defendant. But that woulod mean there was a speck of honesty and justice in the Maine judicial system … which any objective outside observer would question.
I was wondering the same thing.
Why is anyone mentioning child pornography if the defendants have not been charged with such crimes?
The prosecution should have been censured there and then for that remark. If they have evidence, let them take it to the grand jury. If they have NO evidence, they should keep their mouths shut. They are withholding evidence for their own purposes and they know they can hide behind such remarks.
I’m always amazed that drug dealers ans prostitutes keep better records than most doctor’s offices. In this case it may indeed pay off just like an insurance policy. I hope it’s not true but one could easily believe they see an effort by the prosecutor’s office to blow the case, get it drop-kicked out of court so the names of the customers doesn’t have to be released. Seem to recall after a certain case in Bangor involving a death that wasn’t prosecuted none of the information was ever released.
Good Lord, there would have been no indictment without hard evidence.
Please don’t be offended but Grand Juries here in Maine will indict a ham sandwich.
in Maine and just about everywhere else
Yes, you are right! So where is the indictment for the alleged kiddie porn they tried to reference in the court room?
If everything worked as advertised, the hard evidence probably disappeared within four hours of the crime.
Well. After all is said and done, I wonder if Alexis knows any cute singles lol.
The childporn charge is a reach I bet.. there has to be more to this case…
I wonder who the heavyweight is, managing to shut this case down??
So, finally a picture of this Wright person.
This out to be good.
I can see it now.
The judge asks a witness to identify Ms. Wright.
The witness says , well your Honor, Ive never seen her with
clothes on , so, maybe can she strip down so I know if its her or not ??
106 witnesses ??
Whoooa !!
You could have Googled her a month ago and found a handful of (better) photos.
Looks like the little lady is in more deep doo-doo than Strong, she’s ticked off the IRS. Big egos make these people believe they can cheat state & federal government, break the law & make money illegally &
no one will be the wiser.
The state is prosecuting this case. It would have to be Maine Revenue who did the tax investigating. I don’t think the Attorney General’s office would do the tax work themselves. State sentences for tax evasion & non filing appears to be a lot less than federal.
More importantly, why is that guy wearing that pink bow tie?
Oh, my. I just noticed that. It looks like he must be part of the prosecution based on where he is sitting.
That outfit is pretty fabulous.
That gentleman is Gregg Bernstein, the state’s assistant attorney general.
It seems the prosecuter figured they plea this case out without revealing who the Elite clients were. Only arrest the less than priviledge.. If they were to do this over again I bet they would never have charged him or her with anything, now knowing whos on the list…
I bet there was some phone calls to anyone who has power in the State to prevent the names from coming out.
If you paid an undercover police office to have sex with you, you would be arrested and the public would know it 15 minutes later… Time to treat everyone the same.
Oh I’m sure that phone calls have been made, but it’s not the prosecutors that are doing the dialing or the answering.
” A Superior Court justice scolded state prosecutors Tuesday for disorganized and inaccessible evidence……admonition from Justice Nancy Mills”
“Mills is overseeing the high-profile prostitution case after Justice Joyce Wheeler recused herself from the case.’
—First of all, this is the second time in two different BDN stories in a month, of criminal evidence being mucked up by government agencies.
Second, in the past i have scolded Mills for being easy on criminal cases, hopefully she has seen the light and is sick and tired of criminals running amuck in this state.
Finally, when the one judge stepped aside,i got a bad feeling about the Dear Johns and who they are. i wonder if some of the Dear Johns are trying to use their clout and attempt to get this case kicked out of court, including having the state prosecutors deliberately screw up.
Perhaps there is some archaic clause in the State of Maine where out of state prosecutors can come in and prosecute a Maine case.
MAINE IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS if you know the right people
Judge Mills continues her tradition of pulling for the defense.
Good. It is better for 100 guilty people to go free than for one innocent person to be locked up. Or something like that.
Derek: It used to be like that when our forefathers established our Legal System, But no longer my friend. The simple word of a girl is enough to get a man convicted of a sexual crime. It happens every day in our corrupt Courts. Funny thing is when its a girl charged with the same offense, with plenty of ‘real’ evidence, even an admission of guilt, very little happens.
Seriously god forbid she expect both sides to follow the rules and stuff. OBAMACARE!
8 terabytes of data!!!????? there’s no HD that big on the consumer market… 2TB maybe 3TB plausible.. but 8? get real…. probably more like 8 gigabytes.. not to mention the prosecutors were totally un-prepared, and supplying only an internal hard drive? where’s the computer to read said drive? wow… I knew maines justice system was screwed up, but I did’nt think they could boggle this one up so bad… lol.. especially one as public as this one is…..
I was thinking the same thing. Could it be an external USB or Firewire drive? If there is even really 8GB of info on the drive, that is quite a bit unless they are HD pics. However, if the DA is relying on that information, it should have been printed out, Bates stamped and documented as evidence. I am inclined to believe the defense attorney on this one.
Makes me wonder if maybe somebody in the prosecutors office is on the Happy John list…
or some other pillar of the community?
We still haven’t seen the list of all the names involved. I wonder who the “smoking gun” is that has been causing all the turmoil for the case, like getting the first judge to step down!
Having been involved myself in a legal situation, I can say with 100% certainty that there is no such thing as justice. The lawyer who lies better wins. The judge who is not perfect (few are) believes the best liar. The whole thing is intended to drag out a problem so more and more money is spent. If you can avoid a lawsuit, do so.
National news now, it is on the AP website!
That’s a cool defense: My client should get off because all the hundreds of files pointing to his involvement in prostitution ring are out of order and not clearly labeled.
He probably did and will continue to “get off”, whether innocent or guilty!
This is what happens when a prosecutor does not practice their work in accordance with Rule 16, as it is written. Getting in practice by working smaller cases, Class D and E crimes, teaches a prosecutor organizational skills in handling discovery.
Getting the job as Prosecutor does not make you a good one. It requires repetitive compliance with the Maine Rules of Criminal Procedure, as recommended and endorsed by the ABA.
That sick look on the lady lawyer’s face…is that because she might lose the case or because her hubby showed up on “The List?”
Mark Strong’s lawyer looks a little disappointed, too. Makes one wonder why…perhaps because his name DIDN’T end up on the list!!!
big news in a small pond. for a little state with limited and shrinking resources, they spend alot of time and taxpayer dollars on victimless crime.
Ms. Wright could have saved herself a lot of trouble by pursuing her “career” in rural Nevada, where prostitution is legal. However, she’d have to pay county and Federal taxes on her income, submit to monthly health exams by the county health department, and pass a background check with the county sheriff.
I agree. Too bad prostitution is not legal here so it could be regulated and safer. We have prostitution in Maine whether we like it or not, so why not be safer about it?
Serious charges in deed. But, can’t wait to see the client list coming out Friday!
Bring on the customer’s names already. I think maybe the prosecution doesn’t want the names to come out. It even said there was some well known names in that ledger so this could be done on purpose.
Wow Alexis is good looking!
If they have evaded taxes and gotten state services illegally then by all means try them for that. Making up charges with no proof and exposing those that may have gotten a quicky serves no purpose other than blowing this up bigger than what it is and bringing pain and sorrow to families needlessly–how would you like to see on the news that your daddy or hubby had a lil ZUMBA in their life. This case is already proving ta be a farce and its just getting started!
Come on, Dan. Stop the grandstanding. That’s waht you and your staff are getting paid for. If you need help sorting it out, ask your client for help.
If you are ashamed to be on “the list’, then you should have thought above the belt, not below.
Where do you think that this list of names came about? These guys aren’t out there making ‘Zumba’ appointments using their real names. She was writing down plate numbers and he was running them for her. And what were the two of them going to do with “the list”? Extortion comes to mind. They probably weren’t going to pay them any video royalties from posting them on the Web.
As for the potential of child-porn on the hard drives? If she’s posting video of herself doing someone’s family pet, then some kid isn’t far behind.
This whole case is sick and doesn’t deserve to be sesationalized every day in the media.
“If she’s posting video of herself doing someone’s family pet, then some kid isn’t far behind.”
Ummm……wat?
Google
If the prosecution is going to use evidence, then it should have been copied, stamped and inventoried so when it is referenced in court, the defense attorney can put his hands on it right away. It is his job to copy, stamp and reference anything he wants to use to rebut the DA’s evidence or anything he intends to introduce to prove the innocence of his clients.
Really? That one hard drive contains 8 TERAbytes of data on it? Its either a hard drive array ($$$) or one heck of a data compression program. Did they just drop a hard drive in the box or was it packed appropriately to protect against static-discharge or shock?