Obscene Ruling in Texas Comic Book Trial
Faithful readers with long memories will recall that the very first post on this site back in August dealt with a free-speech case in Texas where a Dallas comic book store owner was tried and convicted of selling adult-oriented material to adults. At the time, it looked like an unfortunate instance of a mean, self-righteous local prosecutor building his political resume at the expense of a powerless and harmless target – an inconvenient injustice that would soon be redressed as soon as the fine legal minds of the Appellate Court could have a look at the bizarre and prejudicial trial record.
Well, in the famous words of US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, I don’t know how to define obscenity, but I know it when I see it, and this press release comes pretty darn close:
In a setback for First Amendment rights, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has denied the Petition for Discretionary Review (PDR) of the "display of obscenity" conviction of Texas comic shop manager Jesus Castillo. The PDR was a second appeal by legal counsel supported by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; the first appeal to the August 2000 conviction was upheld in a 2-1 split decision last July.
Jesus Castillo was convicted for promoting obscenity by selling an adult manga to an adult in a Dallas comic book store. In the original trial, the Prosecution successfully secured Castillo's conviction by introducing prejudicial comments about the store's proximity to an elementary school and exploiting the common misperception of comics as a children's medium. The conviction was arrived at despite unchallenged expert testimony from the Defense and without using the "Miller Test" to determine whether the whole of the work in question was constitutionally obscene.
At this stage, the CBLDF has exhausted the remedies afforded it at the State level and must decide whether it will back a bid to appeal the case to the United States Supreme Court. Today the Fund's Board of the Directors will make their decision concerning the appeal.
The sickness and stupidity of this is almost beyond words. Please contact the CBLDF or the ACLU to express your support for their efforts on behalf of this poor guy.
9:54:12 AM 
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