Mitchell Brothers - Jim Killed Artie

Jim (left) and Artie Mitchell - brothers in pornography

The brothers James Lloyd "Jim" Mitchell (November 30, 1943 – July 12, 2007) and Artie Jay Mitchell (December 17, 1945 – February 27, 1991) were pioneers in the pornography and striptease club business in San Francisco and other parts of California from 1969 until 1991, when Jim was convicted of killing Artie.

They opened the O'Farrell Theatre in 1969 as an adult cinema and at one time operated 11 such businesses; they produced and directed many adult films, including Behind the Green Door in 1972. They were also successful as the defendants in many obscenity cases. The Mitchells' notoriety significantly increased with Jim's fratricide; they became the subject of three books,X-Rated by David McCumber, Bottom Feeders by John Hubner, 9½ Years Behind the Mitchell Brothers' Green Door by Simone Corday and one movie, Rated X.

Killing of Artie, and trial

In 1991, Jim, in response to friends' and associates' demands to "do something" about alcoholic, cocaine-addled Artie, drove to Artie's house one rainy evening in late February with a .22 rifle that he inherited from his father and fatally shot him. O'Farrell dancer Julie Bajo (Artie's lover at the time) immediately called 911, and the police arrested Jim minutes later. Marilyn Chambers spoke at Artie's funeral, and he was then buried in Lodi Memorial Cemetery.

After a highly publicized trial in which Jim was represented by his old friend and lawyer Michael Kennedy (by then a prominent Park Avenue attorney), the jury rejected a murder charge and found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter. Before Jim's sentencing, numerous people spoke on his behalf (presumably appealing for clemency), including former Mayor Frank Jordan, Sheriff Michael Hennessey, and former Police Chief Richard Hongisto. Mitchell was sentenced to six years in prison.

One of the results of Jim's trial is that the California Courts allowed, in a precedent-setting decision, a virtual reality reenactment of the murder to be entered into evidence. It showed the positions of Jim, Artie, the bullet impact points, and the path taken by bullets as they entered Artie's body. This was the first use of a 3D computer animation in a criminal trial. In his final argument before the jury, Michael Kennedy attempted to mock the virtual-reality reenactment. However, the success of the method led to its use in other trials.)

After release

After having served three years in San Quentin, Jim was released in 1997, and he returned to run the O'Farrell Theatre.

Jim established the "Artie Fund" to collect money for a local drug rehabilitation center and for the Surf Rescue Squad of the San Francisco Fire Department. (In 1990, Artie was caught in a riptide off Ocean Beach, Jim paddled out to help, and the surf rescue squad aided in the rescue of both of them; the squad members received lifetime passes to the O'Farrell.) Artie's children have denounced the fund, claiming it is intended to whitewash Artie's murder. On their website, they describe their father's murder as premeditated and motivated by greed and jealousy, and claim that the depictions of Artie in the books and movie are inaccurate. 

Shortly before his death, Jim wanted to change California's nickname to "the Prison State" and design a license plate saying so. He intended to protest the efforts of law enforcement and prison guards to lobby for longer prison sentences.