legal

Karen Fletcher Pleads Guilty to Internet Obscenity (AVN)

by Viviane on 08/08/2008

in internet, legal

By: Mark Kernes

Posted: 08/07/2008

PITTSBURGH - Karen Fletcher, the Donora, Pennsylvania woman who ran the RedRoseStories.com Website, which the government charged contained obscene text pieces involving sex with and torture of underage characters, today pleaded guilty to six counts of “using an interactive computer service to distribute obscene materials.”

Fletcher, whose site had 29 subscribers worldwide and charged $10 per month for access – then her sole source of income – received, under a plea agreement worked out between U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan’s office, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman and Trial Attorney Michael Yoon, both of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) of the Justice Department, and defense counsel Jerry Mooney and Lawrence W. Walters, a sentence of five years’ probation, including six months of house arrest with electronic monitoring, plus a $1,000 fine. U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti pronounced the sentence, and could have imposed as much as five years in prison, but the government agreed that such a sentence was not appropriate.

(more. . .)

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Support the Friends of Jefferson Legal Defense Fund

by Viviane on 08/04/2008

in Jefferson, legal

foj email banner 1 Support the Friends of Jefferson Legal Defense Fund

Graphic design courtesy of Leila Taylor

An important member of the sex-positive community
urgently needs our help.

Jefferson—blogger, educator, and dear friend to so many of us—is at this moment fighting a court battle with his ex-wife, who is seeking full custody of their three children.

Jefferson’s love for his children has been well-documented on his blog One Life, Take Two for years. His ex-wife has stated in court that he is a “great” father who loves his children.

However, among her claims is that his bisexuality makes him an unfit parent.


Jefferson needs our help now. As a writer, his resources are limited. The costs of fighting this case are mounting quickly—and will certainly run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

As of today, there is an urgent and immediate need for at least $20,000 to cover costs associated with attorney fees and those of the law guardian who has been appointed to represent the children.

If he is unable to pay these fees by August 11,
he will be forced to relinquish custody of his children.

This case is of concern to anyone whose sexuality does not fit the standard mold—because it could happen to you. This case is of concern to all writers, because Jefferson’s blog is being used as evidence against him—and that could have repercussions for our First Amendment rights.

Here’s how to help:

Make an ANONYMOUS, TAX-DEDUCTIBLE contribution to Jefferson’s legal defense by visiting the Sexual Freedom Defense and Education Fund at:

www.sfldef.org

There you will find out how to donate to Jefferson’s Defense Fund via PayPal or if you prefer, check or money order.

Please note that you MUST mention that your donation be used for the JEFFERSON LEGAL DEFENSE FUND.

In the coming days, www.onelifetaketwo.com will be relaunched with information about Jefferson’s ongoing case. Be sure to visit his blog for updates. In the meantime, you can contact Jefferson directly at friendsofjefferson@gmail.com.

Feel free to copy this and post it to your blog or any email lists Or link back to this post. More graphics may be found here.


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5th Circuit Denies Petitions for Rehearing in Sex-Toy Case (AVN)

by Viviane on 08/03/2008

in legal, sextoys

BATON ROUGE – The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied petitions by Travis County (Tex.) D.A. Ronnie Earle and intervenor-defendant State of Texas to rehear the Reliable Consultants case, in which a three-judge panel found that the sale and use of adult novelties for purposes of sexual stimulation was protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.

“Treating the Petition for Rehearing En Banc as a Petition for Panel Rehearing, the Petition for Panel Rehearing is DENIED,” wrote the panel of judges who originally struck down Texas’ obscene device law, speaking for the majority of the Circuit. “The court having been polled at the request of one of the members of the court and a majority of the judges who are in regular active service and not disqualified not having voted in favor, the Petition for Rehearing En Banc is DENIED.”

“What that means is that by my count, 10 of the judges voted against the rehearing and eight voted for it,” said attorney Clyde DeWitt, once a prosecutor in Texas. “The ‘no’ votes would include any of the eligible judges who didn’t want to take a position one way or the other; they’re then automatically counted as votes not to rehear the case.”

Of the eight who voted to rehear the case, however, seven chose to author or join in dissents expressing their disagreement with the original panel’s ruling. Most of the dissenters’ objections raised two issues: 1) that the original panel should not have expanded the substantive due process rights acknowledged under the Supreme Court’s decision in Lawrence v. Texas, and 2) the panel should not have overruled an earlier Fifth Circuit case, Red Bluff Drive-In, Inc. v. Vance, which in 1981 had upheld Texas’ anti-sex toy law.

However, according to First Amendment attorney H. Louis Sirkin, who argued the Reliable Consultants case before the Fifth Circuit, a recent ruling by the Texas Court of Appeals may prevent the federal circuit ruling from being applicable to anyone except Reliable Consultants’ own stores, or mail order shipments to Texas from PHE, Inc. (Adam & Eve), or products sold in PHE’s Texas stores.

Link

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Do The Good People Of Florida Think Your Website Is Obscene? You Better Hope Not. (Silicon Alley Insider)

by Viviane on 06/07/2008

in legal

Eric Krangel | June 7, 2008 8:00 AM


Pornographer Paul F. Little, who works under the moniker “Max Hardcore,” lives and works in California. But that didn’t stop the Feds from hauling Little 2,500 miles across the country to Tampa, Florida, where they convinced a jury to convict him on 20 counts of obscenity this week. Why Tampa? Because, prosecutors successfully argued, Little’s Websites used some servers there.

Jury-shopping — trying to try your case in a town where the locals are likely to be in your favor — is a time-honored tradition in the U.S. legal system. But the Web opens up a whole new world of possiblities for aggressive prosectors. In this case, says the St. Petersburg Times: “Defense attorneys said Little never knew his site was housed in Tampa, and that prosecutors never produced any evidence that he did.” Presumably he’ll bring that up before a Federal judge, who has the ability to sentence him to a 100 years in prison — 5 years for each count.

(more . . . )

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State Supreme Court says same-sex couples have right to marry (SFGate.com)

by Viviane on 05/15/2008

in gay, gay marriage, legal, marriage

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

(05-15) 10:31 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — Gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry in California, the state Supreme Court said today in a historic ruling that could be repudiated by the voters in November.

In a 4-3 decision, the justices said the state’s ban on same-sex marriage violates the “fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship.” The ruling is likely to flood county courthouses with applications from couples newly eligible to marry when the decision takes effect in 30 days.

The ruling set off a celebration at San Francisco City Hall. As the decision came down, out-of-breath staff members ran into the mayor’s office where Gavin Newsom read the decision.

Outside the city clerk’s office, three opposite-sex couples were waiting at 10 a.m. for marriage certificates. City officials had prepared for a possible rush on certificates by same-sex couples, but hadn’t yet changed the forms that ask couples to fill out the name of the “bride” and “groom.”

Kenton Owayang, the office supervisor for the city clerk’s office, said he’s waiting for word from the state registrar’s office about marriage forms and working on getting extra staff members in today in case the city is able to give out the certificates to same-sex couples. (more . . .)

Full text of opinion (172 pgs) from How Appealing.

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Panel Rejects Order For Sex-Change Surgery (NY Law Jnl)

by Viviane on 05/14/2008

in legal, nyc, transgender

A family court does not have the authority to compel New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services to pay for a foster child’s sex-change operation, an appellate court has ruled. In an unsigned, unanimous opinion, the Appellate Division, First Department, held that while Social Services Law §398(6)(c) requires the agency to provide “necessary medical and surgical care” to all children under its aegis, regardless of whether or not they receive Medicaid, Family Court does not have the power to order that a child receive certain care.

Link 

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How “Swingers” Might Save Hollywood from a Federal Pornography Statute (Pocket Part; Yale Law Journal)

by Viviane on 05/05/2008

in 2257, legal, legislation, pornography

swingers How “Swingers” Might Save Hollywood from a Federal Pornography Statute (Pocket Part; Yale Law Journal)

by Alan R. Levy, April 28, 2008
[View as PDF]

Section 2257 of title 18 of the U.S. Code requires that “producers” of photographs and films of “actual sexually explicit conduct” create and maintain records documenting the age of the performers depicted in those performances. The statute’s purpose is to ensure that the performers are not minors. This recordkeeping statute has generally been limited to the adult film industry, although recently the statute’s impact has crept into the realm of mainstream film and television. For over two decades, the statute has withstood numerous constitutional challenges by the adult film industry and civil libertarian organizations. On October 23, 2007, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that § 2257 was overbroad on its face and therefore unconstitutional.

Although the Sixth Circuit has since vacated the Connection III decision to rehear the case en banc, this decision marks the first time that a federal appeals court has struck down the recordkeeping statute on constitutional grounds. Ironically, the victorious plaintiff was not the adult film industry or a civil liberties organization but rather a non-commercial “swingers” publication in which married couples published explicit photographs of themselves to seek out other married couples for sexual relationships. While the court protected the constitutional rights of swingers, this decision will also impact the speech rights of both the adult film industry and the mainstream entertainment industry. Even though the full Sixth Circuit decision will replace that of the appellate panel, the reasoning in the earlier decision will lay out the framework for the arguments in this case and future challenges to the statute.

(more . . .)

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N.Y. Court Overturns Former Ruling Against Recognition of Canadian Same-Sex “Marriages” (LifeSiteNews)

by Viviane on 03/31/2008

in gay, gay marriage, legal, marriage

Pro-homosexual legal group hails decision as “another NY win on marriage”

By Michael Baggot

BROOKLYN, NY, March 31, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Last Tuesday, in a decision that follows the trend towards greater state recognition of same-sex “marriages,” the New York Appellate Division invalidated a lower court decision stating that Brady Davis was not entitled to New York health benefits as the partner of the man he “married” in Canada.

In 2006, a lower court had rejected Duke Funderburke’s request to extend his New York Uniondale Union Free School District retirement plan to his partner, Davis, whom Funderburke had legally “married” in Ontario in 2004.

In May 2007, the New York State Department of Civil Service decided to grant benefits to same-sex spouses under the New York State Health Insurance Program, thus allowing Davis and other same-sex spouses of public employees to receive health benefits.

Because the state now afforded same-sex spouses the sort of coverage Funderburke and Davis appealed for, the appellate court considered their appeal moot. In addition, the appellate court vacated the original 2006 lower court ruling that refused to recognize health benefit rights of same-sex spouses married in foreign countries. (more . . .)

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Supremes hear oral argument in child porn case

by Viviane on 10/31/2007

in child porn, legal

from the WSJ Law Blog:

The provision of the statute at issue deals with the pandering of material as child pornography. It targets the person who “advertises, promotes, presents, distributes or solicits . . . any material or purported material in a manner that reflects the belief, or that is intended to cause another to believe” that it is child pornography. The Eleventh Circuit struck the statute down as overly broad.

From the get-go, the justices assaulted Solictor General Paul Clement with all sorts of hypotheticals. For instance, the justices struggled with whether the statute could apply to movie reviewers who wrote about depictions of teen sex in movies like “American Beauty,” “Traffic” and “Lolita.”

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Georgia Court Frees Man Convicted In Sex Case

by Jefferson on 10/26/2007

in legal

ATLANTA, Oct. 26 — After more than two years in prison for having consensual oral sex with a fellow teenager, Genarlow Wilson shook the hand of a warden Friday at the Al Burruss Correctional Training Center in Forsyth, Ga., and smiled shyly as he walked into the arms of his waiting mother and young sister.

Mr. Wilson’s mother had skipped up to the prison door to wait for him.

“I ran around inside the house 20 times,” said Juanessa Bennett, his mother, describing her reaction to hearing that her son would be set free.

Mr. Wilson, who is now 21, was released just hours after the Georgia Supreme Court ended his 10-year prison sentence. The court said the sentence for the act, which was considered a felony at the time, violated the Constitution’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

In a 4-to-3 ruling, the court’s majority said the sentence was “grossly disproportionate” to the crime, which “did not rise to the level of culpability of adults who prey on children.”

Mr. Wilson said he was in “total disbelief” when he first heard the news of the court’s ruling from another inmate who had heard it on the radio.

“It didn’t seem real,” Mr. Wilson said. “I stopped trying to figure the courts out.”

(more . . . )

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Court Strikes Down Age Verification For Adult Sites

by Jefferson on 10/23/2007

in legal, legislation

How Appealing reports that a court has struck down age verification requirements for porn sites, as a First Amendment violation. Here is the ruling (PDF). While the average reader here has never been to such a site, porn has been a driving force in the economics and technology of the Net. The age verification requirements of U.S.C. Title 18, Section 2257 were yet another attempt to regulate to death what the government can’t outright prohibit. The requirements intruded on the privacy and safety of performers and created headaches for sites like flickr and photobucket that host images. It is has long been thought that the requirements wouldn’t hold up in court, but this is the first actual ruling.

From Slashdot

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Comment period for H.R. 4472 ends tomorrow!

by Viviane on 09/09/2007

in legal, legislation

The comment period for the H.R. 4472, the proposed regs for 18 U.s.C. 2257 ends tomorrow. I posted the action alert earlier in the week.

Have you written the DOJ to tell them how you feel about providing personal information to an adult website, and being regarded as a “secondary producer?” Are you comfortable with having that personal information subject to warrantless searches?

Comments may be submitted electronically to: Admin.ceos@usdoj.gov or to http://www.regulations.gov by using the electronic comment form provided. The subject line must read: Docket No. CRM 104.

Facsimile comments may be submitted to: (202) 514-1793. This is not a toll-free number. Comments submitted by facsimile must include Docket No. CRM 104 on the cover sheet.

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Pa. Court: Viewing Child Porn on Computer Enough for Possession (Law.com)

by Viviane on 08/24/2007

in crime, legal

Gina Passarella
The Legal Intelligencer
08-24-2007
The Pennsylvania Superior Court isn’t buying the argument that a man who viewed child pornography on his computer, but didn’t save the images, couldn’t be charged with possession of child pornography.

A 7-2 en banc Superior Court panel in Commonwealth v. Diodoro reversed a prior three-judge panel that found there was not sufficient evidence to show Anthony Diodoro downloaded or saved the images of child pornography he viewed.

In the latest majority opinion, Judge Correale F. Stevens said §6312(d) of the Crimes and Offenses Code, which prohibits the possession of child pornography, clearly states that anyone who “possesses or controls” child pornography is guilty of a third-degree felony.

Diodoro, who freely admits that he viewed at least 30 images of child pornography, argued that he never possessed them.

(more. . . )

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Julie Amero gets a new trial

by Viviane on 06/06/2007

in crime, legal, porn

Substitute teacher Julie Amero, who had convicting of allow her students to accidentally view pop-up porn, was to have been sentenced today. Instead, her lawyers have successfully moved for a new trial.

From theday.com:

“Judge Hillary Strackbein said the state had conducted further forensic information that the jury had not heard at the trial. The information, according to defense experts, was that the computer had generated pornographic popups and that Amero, a substitute teacher, was not at fault. Amero had been convicted of four counts of risk of injury to a minor and faced up to 40 years in prison.”

BoingBoing has a post relating the defense’s technical expert’s experience:

“We asked the prosecution to arrange for the defense to have unfettered access to the internet so that we could reenact the events of October 19, 2004. It was not granted. I went to court with two laptops and a box full of reference material prepared to very clearly illustrate what happened to Julie Amero. But, the prosecution objected because they were not given “full disclosure” of my examination. I was allowed to illustrate two screens, that of the www.hair-styles.org , and www.new-hair-styles.com sites.

This was one of the most frustrating experiences of my career, knowing full well that the person is innocent and not being allowed to provide logical proof.”

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Sex blogger files for bankruptcy (Yahoo)

by Viviane on 06/01/2007

in jessicacutler, legal, sexbloggers

WASHINGTON – Jessica Cutler, the former Senate aide whose online sex diary landed her a book deal and a Playboy photo spread but got her kicked off Capitol Hill, has filed for bankruptcy.

Cutler, a former aide to then-Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, created the “Washingtonienne” blog in 2004 and began posting racy details about her sex life with six men, including a Senate colleague and “a few generous older gentlemen” who she said paid many of her living expenses. (more. . .)

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