From the Toronto Sun:
Sun, October 16, 2005
Porn star Kid Vegas tries to beat Nevada's legal heat
By Mark Bonokoski
California-born Scott Michael Austin, having already been a guest of the Toronto West Detention Centre, as well as the super-jail in Lindsay, is now booked into the Niagara Detention Centre, months after customs officials at Pearson International ran his passport through their computer and discovered he was no accidental tourist.
But Austin is no dummy to Canada's lax immigration laws.
After all, if American soldiers who had voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Army thought it was worth a shot to both extend their stay in Canada as well as avoid going to Iraq, then why would he not give it a try?
And so he did. He immediately applied for refugee status.
But Scott Austin -- aka "Kid Vegas" -- is no soldier with a pre-deployment pang of conscientious objection.
What he is, instead, is a porn star who skipped bail in Nevada as he was about to come to trial in a rural desert town on various counts of felony sex assault.
Big difference when it comes to the sympathy factor, even for a two-time award-winner, albeit in the porn industry.
Nude video award
There was, for example, the 2000 Adult Video Nude Award he won for Kid Vegas: Whoremaster. And then a repeat only one year later for ... Kid Vegas: Trenchcoat Pornographer.
Nonetheless, a mother must try.
And California hairdresser Kathleen Vigil -- mother of Scott Austin, aka Kid Vegas -- has been writing and phoning anyone who will listen, and many who will not, to try to convince Canadian authorities that her son doesn't stand a snowball's chance in the Nevada heat of getting a fair trial in the Dye County burg of Beatty, Nev., Pop. 1,200.
"I do not condone the business he is in," she said. "But the court in Nevada is corrupt. He doesn't stand a chance."
Lieut. Frank Jarvis of the Dye County Sheriff's Office said Dye County and its main town, Beatty, are small enough that "everyone pretty well knows everyone," including the fact that Scott Austin skipped bail on a number of extraditable sexual assaults that had "no relationship" with the pornography business.
According to Kathleen Vigil, her son doesn't stand a snowball's chance of a fair trial in Dye County because the only two defence attorneys in Beatty worth their salt dropped the case because one knew the accuser as well as her mother, and the other knew the accuser's entire family.
As for the judges, she said, one has a niece who is a witness for the prosecution, and the other supposedly has the accuser's mother on the county's payroll.
It is a town small enough, in fact, that when Lieut. Jarvis claimed the charges against Austin had "no relationship" with the pornography business, he was technically correct while perhaps not entirely forthcoming.
Accused by a co-star
Austin's accuser, according to the Las Vegas defence attorney last retained by Austin, was in fact a co-star in Kid Vegas' last porno flick, available only on the Internet.
"The allegation is that the sex he had with her during an escapade one night in Beatty was forced sex," said James Buchanan. "This comes from a girl who appeared with him in a porn movie. And, yes, there were other accusers, but they were all at the same party.
"Dye County is a tough, rural county, but I don't think Mr. Austin should have run.
"I thought he'd do all right in court, all things considered."
According to Patrizia Giolti, communications manager for the Canada Border Service Agency, 32-year-old Scott Austin's refugee claim was denied on Sept. 23 when he was determined "not to be a Geneva Convention refugee."
In fact, he has been what the border service calls "removal ready" since Oct. 8 -- which is not to say his return to the supposed snowball's hell of Dye County, Nev., is imminent.
"At this point, he can still ask for pre-removal risk assessment," said Giolti, supposedly to ascertain whether going back to Dye County would be dangerous. "Or, he could ask for judicial review at a federal court."
As for bail until any of these options are explored, well, according to Giolti, the Crown argued successfully for Austin's detainment "due to the unlikelihood that he would appear" for any of the proceedings.
Austin's mother, meanwhile, has been adding up the phone calls -- more than a dozen to Ontario Legal Aid, as well as numerous calls to the American Consulate in Toronto.
"No legal aid assistance, and no help whatsoever from the U.S. Consulate," said Kathleen Vigil. "That's what it has come down to.
"Everyone is making things impossible," she later said in an e-mail. "They want to persecute instead of prosecute."
Elaine Gamble, a spokesperson for legal aid, refused to comment on specific cases, but indicated legal aid assistance is given in certain immigration hearings.
"We have a list of countries where we have dire concerns," she said. "Countries like Iran and Iraq, for example. But the United States is not on that list."
As for the U.S. Consulate, spokesman Mike Schimmel refused, as well, to discuss Scott Austin's case, or even admit that he knew of the case's existence.
"I have no Privacy Act waiver from anyone named Scott Austin," he repeatedly said, like a mantra.
So there it is.
The next immigration hearing scheduled for Scott Austin -- aka Kid Vegas -- is slated for the first week of November.
And, because he is in the accommodating confines of Canada, he has three routes he can take.
Playing the system
He can play the Canadian system like Vegas dice and go for a pre-removal review, or he can request a judicial review at the federal level -- all of which will get him his stall.
Or, he can throw up his hands and give up -- which will lead to him being escorted over the border, and then a one-way trip back to Dye County, Nev., for a courtroom reunion with the porn actress who he allegedly raped and her friends.
Right now, however, he is going for the pre-removal review route. In a collect phone call from the Niagara Detention Centre, Scott Austin -- aka Kid Vegas -- says he is facing multiple life sentences if convicted in Nevada. "It's all corrupt down there," he said. "I'm willing to stay here as long as it takes if I can avoid going back to Nevada."
His time, perhaps; but on our money -- meaning the only one getting screwed in this is the Canadian taxpayer.
Sun, October 16, 2005
Porn star Kid Vegas tries to beat Nevada's legal heat
By Mark Bonokoski
California-born Scott Michael Austin, having already been a guest of the Toronto West Detention Centre, as well as the super-jail in Lindsay, is now booked into the Niagara Detention Centre, months after customs officials at Pearson International ran his passport through their computer and discovered he was no accidental tourist.
But Austin is no dummy to Canada's lax immigration laws.
After all, if American soldiers who had voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Army thought it was worth a shot to both extend their stay in Canada as well as avoid going to Iraq, then why would he not give it a try?
And so he did. He immediately applied for refugee status.
But Scott Austin -- aka "Kid Vegas" -- is no soldier with a pre-deployment pang of conscientious objection.
What he is, instead, is a porn star who skipped bail in Nevada as he was about to come to trial in a rural desert town on various counts of felony sex assault.
Big difference when it comes to the sympathy factor, even for a two-time award-winner, albeit in the porn industry.
Nude video award
There was, for example, the 2000 Adult Video Nude Award he won for Kid Vegas: Whoremaster. And then a repeat only one year later for ... Kid Vegas: Trenchcoat Pornographer.
Nonetheless, a mother must try.
And California hairdresser Kathleen Vigil -- mother of Scott Austin, aka Kid Vegas -- has been writing and phoning anyone who will listen, and many who will not, to try to convince Canadian authorities that her son doesn't stand a snowball's chance in the Nevada heat of getting a fair trial in the Dye County burg of Beatty, Nev., Pop. 1,200.
"I do not condone the business he is in," she said. "But the court in Nevada is corrupt. He doesn't stand a chance."
Lieut. Frank Jarvis of the Dye County Sheriff's Office said Dye County and its main town, Beatty, are small enough that "everyone pretty well knows everyone," including the fact that Scott Austin skipped bail on a number of extraditable sexual assaults that had "no relationship" with the pornography business.
According to Kathleen Vigil, her son doesn't stand a snowball's chance of a fair trial in Dye County because the only two defence attorneys in Beatty worth their salt dropped the case because one knew the accuser as well as her mother, and the other knew the accuser's entire family.
As for the judges, she said, one has a niece who is a witness for the prosecution, and the other supposedly has the accuser's mother on the county's payroll.
It is a town small enough, in fact, that when Lieut. Jarvis claimed the charges against Austin had "no relationship" with the pornography business, he was technically correct while perhaps not entirely forthcoming.
Accused by a co-star
Austin's accuser, according to the Las Vegas defence attorney last retained by Austin, was in fact a co-star in Kid Vegas' last porno flick, available only on the Internet.
"The allegation is that the sex he had with her during an escapade one night in Beatty was forced sex," said James Buchanan. "This comes from a girl who appeared with him in a porn movie. And, yes, there were other accusers, but they were all at the same party.
"Dye County is a tough, rural county, but I don't think Mr. Austin should have run.
"I thought he'd do all right in court, all things considered."
According to Patrizia Giolti, communications manager for the Canada Border Service Agency, 32-year-old Scott Austin's refugee claim was denied on Sept. 23 when he was determined "not to be a Geneva Convention refugee."
In fact, he has been what the border service calls "removal ready" since Oct. 8 -- which is not to say his return to the supposed snowball's hell of Dye County, Nev., is imminent.
"At this point, he can still ask for pre-removal risk assessment," said Giolti, supposedly to ascertain whether going back to Dye County would be dangerous. "Or, he could ask for judicial review at a federal court."
As for bail until any of these options are explored, well, according to Giolti, the Crown argued successfully for Austin's detainment "due to the unlikelihood that he would appear" for any of the proceedings.
Austin's mother, meanwhile, has been adding up the phone calls -- more than a dozen to Ontario Legal Aid, as well as numerous calls to the American Consulate in Toronto.
"No legal aid assistance, and no help whatsoever from the U.S. Consulate," said Kathleen Vigil. "That's what it has come down to.
"Everyone is making things impossible," she later said in an e-mail. "They want to persecute instead of prosecute."
Elaine Gamble, a spokesperson for legal aid, refused to comment on specific cases, but indicated legal aid assistance is given in certain immigration hearings.
"We have a list of countries where we have dire concerns," she said. "Countries like Iran and Iraq, for example. But the United States is not on that list."
As for the U.S. Consulate, spokesman Mike Schimmel refused, as well, to discuss Scott Austin's case, or even admit that he knew of the case's existence.
"I have no Privacy Act waiver from anyone named Scott Austin," he repeatedly said, like a mantra.
So there it is.
The next immigration hearing scheduled for Scott Austin -- aka Kid Vegas -- is slated for the first week of November.
And, because he is in the accommodating confines of Canada, he has three routes he can take.
Playing the system
He can play the Canadian system like Vegas dice and go for a pre-removal review, or he can request a judicial review at the federal level -- all of which will get him his stall.
Or, he can throw up his hands and give up -- which will lead to him being escorted over the border, and then a one-way trip back to Dye County, Nev., for a courtroom reunion with the porn actress who he allegedly raped and her friends.
Right now, however, he is going for the pre-removal review route. In a collect phone call from the Niagara Detention Centre, Scott Austin -- aka Kid Vegas -- says he is facing multiple life sentences if convicted in Nevada. "It's all corrupt down there," he said. "I'm willing to stay here as long as it takes if I can avoid going back to Nevada."
His time, perhaps; but on our money -- meaning the only one getting screwed in this is the Canadian taxpayer.
Last edited:
