The sometimes freedom of speech
I have been reading a bit about the Jesus Castillo case on Neil Gaiman’s blog, various news sites and on the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund site. Comic book store owner Castillo has been found guilty on some sort of obsenity charge after an arrest in 2000 for selling adult comic books to an adult undercover police officer.
Perhaps the scarriest part is from the prosecutor’s closing: “I don’t care what type of evidence or what type of testimony is out there, use your rationality, use your common sense. Comic books, traditionally what we think of, are for kids.” Castillo was found guilty and sentenced to 180 days in jail, a year probation, and a $4,000 fine.
He’s making it sound like adult material is being sold to minors, even though he presented no evidence of that. Argh!
The beginning of this month, the U.S. Supreme Court denied his appeal, with the notion that obscenity is a state-level affair, despite the First Amendment being a Federal law. Bad precedents for free speech and the comic book industry.
My guess is that the book that the undercover officer bought is one that I would never buy, but that should be our choice. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it.
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