TAMPA — A juror serving in the obscenity trial of a Hollywood producer asked today if shorter portions of pornographic movies could be shown in court as evidence.

“Your Honor, would it be at all possible for clips to be shown to the jury instead of the movie in its entirety?” the male juror wrote during a morning break.

Just before receiving the note, U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew decided to let the prosecution and defense play as much or as little of the five pornographic films in the case as they deemed necessary. Jurors weren’t in the courtroom when the judge ruled.

Bucklew requested earlier this week that prosecutors play all 8-1/2 hours of the films as they presented evidence against producer, director and porn star Paul F. Little of Altadena, Calif., and his company, MaxWorld Entertainment Inc.

But after 40 minutes of viewing Wednesday, the judge said she doubted the jury could sit through so much graphic and violent depictions.

In his films, Little goes by the name Max Hardcore. He creates scenes that show him inflicting pain and humiliation on female actresses. His movies include urinating, vomiting and defecation, often on adult women made up to look like young girls.

Little and MaxWorld are charged with five counts of using a computer server to sell obscene matter and five counts of delivering obscene matter through the U.S. mail. Little’s Max Hardcore Web site was housed on servers in downtown Tampa for about three years.

Defense attorney Jeffrey Douglas wanted to question the juror who sent the note to see if it represented only his views or views of other jurors. Bucklew said there was no indication that the juror was speaking for anyone but himself.

Douglas said that if the juror had discussed the case with the others, then he tainted the jury pool. He also wanted to know if the juror had already reached an opinion on whether the material was obscene.

The judge denied Douglas’ request to question the juror. When Douglas then moved for a mistrial, the judge denied that motion as well.

Earlier in the day, there had been more discussion about how much pornography prosecutors would show at trial.

The prosecution originally planned to show only 2-1/2 hours of Little’s films. But the defense insisted that the law required jurors to view them in their entirety, from beginning to end, if the jury is to accurately and fairly decide if the films are obscene.

Bucklew said she will let the government present its case as it sees fit.

The defense said it may play portions of the films that aren’t shown by the prosecution.

Douglas said that only showing portions of the films was a ploy by the prosecution to make the movies appear more jarring than they actually are. He said that if jurors watched the movies as they were intended to be seen, it would desensitize them and take some of the force out of the government’s case.

He said that the judge’s ruling to allow prosecutors to only show parts of the films will send the jury the impression that the judge thought that was enough. Douglas said jurors may think that whatever the defense elects to play is deemed unnecessary by the court.

Bucklew said jurors will have the DVDs in the deliberation room and are free to watch them if they choose.

“It’s not like I’m keeping the evidence out,” the judge said. “It’s there. We’re just talking about publishing the evidence.”

Jurors began the day watching the remaining 45 minutes of a Max Hardcore film they started viewing on Wednesday. Prosecutors then showed about 15 minutes of a different film before lunch.

The afternoon session closed with the government’s final video evidence, a 28-minute sequence.

The defense is expected to show additional portions of the videos, including interviews with the performers in which they are asked if they participated willingly, did what they wanted to do, and were not using drugs at the time.