Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 9, 1994                   TAG: 9401090043
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MANASSAS                                LENGTH: Medium

BOBBITTS HAVE GONE PUBLIC, SOMETIMES FOR A PRICE

Raunchy radio host Howard Stern offered John Bobbitt $15,000 in cash to expose his famously dismembered member on Stern's New Year's Eve television special, but Bobbitt declined.

Bobbitt, whose wife stands trial Monday for cutting off his penis, was one of the celebrity judges on Stern's softcore sendup of a beauty pageant.

Modesty was less in evidence earlier in the show, when Bobbitt squirted chocolate syrup on a bare-breasted woman. Bobbitt also solicited donations to cover his medical and legal bills, flashing an 800-number as a woman massaged a giant model of a penis in the background.

Bobbitt has discussed his sexual function, or lack thereof, on national television and ripped up a photo of his estranged wife while the studio audience applauded. Bobbitt began his publicity tour soon after he was acquitted in November of marital sexual assault.

In many cases, Bobbitt was paid for his interviews. He has a professional media adviser.

His criminal lawyer, Gregory Murphy, said he sees nothing wrong with Bobbitt's exposure so far.

"The interviews have been very helpful to the public finding out that John is not the horrible picture that Lorena painted," Murphy said.

For her part, Lorena Bobbitt was the first to take her version of the events of June 23, 1993, to the press.

She also posed for cheesecake photos in two national magazines. She, too, has a media consultant.

Her lawyer refused comment last week.

"The legal issues in this case are really complicated by all the media, both sought and unsought by the Bobbitts," said Brenda Smith, director of the Women's Law Center in Washington.

"The truth is that even though justice is blind and we go to really huge efforts to secure that result, it does have an impact on both the judge and the jury."

More than 100 journalists are expected to turn out for Round Two of the Bobbitt he-said-she-said.

"It's going to be very bad. We've had a lot of international media calling," said Robert Marsh, administrator in Prince William County Circuit Court.

Even Comedy Central, the cable comedy channel, will be on hand to film a tongue-in-cheek documentary about the trial.