Artie Mitchell

American homicide victim, shot to death by his brother Jim at his home near San Francisco on 2/27/1991, c. 10:00 PM. Artie and Jim were pornographers, pioneers of the sex industry as it exists in the late 20th century. Jim started their business while he was in college during the '60s, finding that the freedoms of the flower children included liberal exhibitionism. The pictures that he shot found an easy market in the streets of San Francisco. Artie joined Jim in his capitalistic venture, adding short strips of porno film to their wares. They found a lucrative venue with Jim taking pictures and managing the business while Artie made an energetic front man for the theater they bought. They had a boyish, All-American appeal that was in contrast to sleazy back-alley porn. The brothers believed that their product had its place in society, so when they were arrested, they hired the best lawyers and fought the civic codes in open court. They won their case with the legal right to show hard-core porno to consenting adults, and at the same time, becoming heroes of the early sexual revolution. Perhaps their most famous production was the Marilyn Chambers film, "Behind the Green Door." Artie was married at 23 to a hippie girl and he set about to make a home in the suburbs with all the trappings of middle-class domesticity. They had three kids, backyard barbeques and weekend softball games. His double life contrasted with business in the city where drugs, booze and women were casually available. After seven years, his wife asked for a divorce. Artie replaced her with wife #2 in the same situation, but with the addition of cocaine by now. He was abusive and jealous. The movie theater had been replaced with live sex shows and nude dancing and his sexual harassment of his female employees was constant. He built up a stable of girl friends whom he manipulated and abused. Court cases became an expensive way of life, along with child support of six kids and two ex-wives. His relationship with his brother Jim was also eroding. Jim had gone through his own cocaine habit and kicked it and had a stable marriage. He had become a businessman complete with three-piece suit and a middle-age paunch. One night after a particularly bitter argument, Jim drove to Artie's house - and shot him. The jury found that it was a crime of passion, not of pre-determination. Link to Wikipedia biography