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Court sets aside conviction of Marine’s uniformed appearance in gay porn

Court sets aside conviction of Marine’s uniformed appearance in gay porn

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals has sided, in part, with a U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant who wore parts of his uniform while appearing in gay porn videos.

In the case of Sgt. Matthew W. Simmons, who had been convicted of violating USMC uniform regulations, including a prohibition on making commercial use of the uniform, the Court set aside part of his guilty-plea convictions, and said that simply wearing part of the official uniform during a porn shoot does not, by itself, amount to misuse.

Matthew Simmons

In setting aside Simmons’ conviction, the appellate court said:

“(Simmons) was an active-duty bandsman. He took leave to appear in several commercial pornographic videos that involved sodomy with numerous other men, by his own account being paid $10,000.00 for his performances.

Some of the videos included shots of him wearing his Marine dress blue coat with the Marine Corps device, decorations, and rank insignia affixed; others showed him wearing a Marine physical training jacket; and at one point he mentioned that he was a Marine. Out-takes from the videos were used to advertise the videos on a website, and one of those out-takes showed the (him) wearing the blue coat.

We are also not satisfied, on the basis of this record, that the appellant’s statements or wear of uniform items may create an inference of service endorsement of the activities depicted.

The appellant never wore a complete ‘uniform,’ so the general public could never receive ‘visual evidence of the authority and responsibility vested in the individual by the United States Government.’ He did not voice any Marine support for what he was doing or any service views on the propriety or impropriety of his conduct.”

The court ordered a re-sentencing on a remaining charges, and appeared to rule out any punitive discharge.

Legal insiders called the ruling “unusual” in an even more “unusual” court case.

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