Court proceedings lasted less than two minutes. Kenny Tarr and his two attorneys had anticipated an 11th hour plea deal with prosecutors. Instead, a preliminary hearing was scheduled for next month.
"It came as a bit of a shock to all of us, but we are prepared to go forward and fight for Kenny," said defense attorney Daniel Perlman.
Tarr is accused of illegally recording more than half a dozen phone calls to professional and college coaches, then posting those conversations on YouTube.
It might seem harmless, but it's illegal in California to record a call without the other person's consent. The 32-year-old Tarr has pleaded not guilty to one felony count of eavesdropping.
"They just want to censor basically what free expression is and what someone's able to do to communicate with the outside world," said Tarr.
In the videos, Tarr posed as a representative from teams and talked job possibilities with representatives from the MLB, NBA and NFL.
In one case, Tarr called former Tampa Bay coach Tony Dungy to offer him the head coaching job at USC. Dungy mentioned that job offer on a sports radio show, then later apologized for the confusion.
In court Tuesday, prosecutors would not comment on the pending case. But Tarr's attorneys say prosecutors are singling out their client while other entertainers do the exact same thing without any repercussions.
"This whole case just comes about because the NFL had its feelings hurt. It's absurd," said defense attorney Robert Sheahen.
