The long running case of Georgia v. Gordon Lee just got longer. The closely watched Free Expression case, which was scheduled to go to trial yesterday, was postponed because the judge was unable to appear due to illness. The case will be rescheduled, and is likely to run on the next misdemeanor trial calendar this November.
“Obviously we’re disappointed that the case was unable to go yesterday, as scheduled, but understand that this kind of delay is nobody’s fault and unavoidable. We wish Judge Salmon a speedy recovery,” says CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein.
Mr. Lee still faces two misdemeanor counts of distributing harmful to minors material, carrying penalties of up to a year and prison and $1,000 in fines for each count if convicted. The current delay is the latest development in a legal saga that has lasted nearly three years. The case arises from the Halloween 2004 distribution of Alternative Comics #2, a Free Comic Book Day sampler which featured an excerpt from the critically acclaimed graphic novel The Salon that depicted Pablo Picasso in the nude, and was allegedly handed to a minor. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has spent $80,000 on Lee’s defense since taking the case in early 2005, and anticipates expenses to run at least another $20,000 before the trial is over.
Since its start, the comics, publishing, and Free Expression communities have been following the case’s progress. It is also being closely watched by the mainstream media for its implications on Free Expression. Coverage of the case has appeared in venues including The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR’s Morning Edition, CourtTV, New York Magazine, Publisher’s Weekly, and The Book Standard, in addition to countless legal, comics & media blogs.
For a detailed summary of the case and its developments, please visit the CBLDF website — Gordon Lee: The Road To Trial
To make a tax-deductible contribution to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, please visit our donations page
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It’d be nice if some people could get together and apply pressure to just drop it, if only because of how much this foolishness is costing taxpayers, all the while going nowhere.
Then again, I suppose just as many people would probably like to see it finally get to trial and then have him found ‘not guilty’ such that this might discourage the idiots in power from wasting time on such nonsense in the future. But they probably wouldn’t learn, so …
I’m sure these delays are not making Gordon’s day either. I talked to him the other day and he’s just ready to get on with it and hopefully put all this behind him.
Bobby
Geez, whatever happened to a person’s right to a speedy trial?
Posted by R. Maheras
As i said in a comment to the previous post – if you think *that*’s bad, check out the Ed Kramer case.
Seven years and counting. And no trial yet.
Don’t forget the people in dog cages in Gitmo…
Posted by campchaos at August 17, 2007 10:00 AM
Don’t forget the people in dog cages in Gitmo…
You mean the enemy combatants? I didnt know they put comic book store owners in Gitmo….
Lets not sully Mr Lee’s battle with B.S. politics
Posted by Pat Nolan
No, let’s look at it in the context of a constantly-rising tide of erosion of civil rights and the rule of law, driven by the same neo-conservative contempt for the rights of anyone who can’t afford to bu justice.
It’s all of a piece.
You mean the enemy combatants?
ALLEGED enemy combatants. Some of circumstances for some of them are quite shaky.
Again just so everyone is paying attention.
Lets not sully Mr Lee’s battle with B.S. politics.
Pick another thread to go on your
neo-conservative rants.
I wasn’t meaning to bring politics into it. All I meant was that there are MANY people who may or may not be innocent of wrong doing who wait year after year after year without getting anywhere in the court system. The “detainees” were merely a 6-year old case that most people would recognize.
Our Rights are being destroyed by the Right and commenting about it is b.s.?
I must have missed the memo where PAD appointed Pat Nolan forum monitor.
Just so everyone is paying attention….
A lot of people find similarities between Mr. Lee’s battles with other circumstances where authoritarian individuals use the excuse of conservative principles to control and wield power.
Argue how the parallels fail…unless you want to look like you’re hiding from the truth.
I’d have to agree with Pat on this one. There’s no point in turning this into a political “my side VS your side” mudslinger. We’ve got plenty of past, present and likely future threads for that.
Besides, neither side is clean here. You can easily go year by year down the last fifty years and find both parties on the local, state and federal level attacking and trying to censor comics, books, TV, movies and any other art that they feel indignant about that week. Censorship isn’t a party issue, it’s a power issue. Those in power will try to censor what they don’t like or try to “protect” us from ourselves in hopes that they can get the mindless masses to vote for them again due to their valiant efforts on “our” behalf.
No side can claim the high ground here.
I’d have to agree with Pat on this one.
Fair enough and I agree that both sides of the political aisle have tried the censorship game, but I’d still like to know who appointed Pat the decider on what is and is not appropriate to discuss in this forum.
Pat Nolan: “Pick another thread to go on your
neo-conservative rants.”
Pat, can you not see the irony inherent in your attempt to intimidate others into withholding their opinions from this thread? The difference between the government infringing on our First Amendment rights and an individual telling someone to keep their opinions out of this thread is a difference of degree rather than of kind.
Alan Coil: “Our Rights are being destroyed by the Right and commenting about it is b.s.?”
Our rights are under constant assault from the right AND the left. Let’s not forget that Tipper Gore spearheaded the PMRC. Moreover, according to noted civil libertarian Alan Dershowitz, while Clinton was president he “had done more to destroy the values reflected in the Bill of Rights than any president in recent memory.
“Clinton supported and signed a law restricting habeas corpus even more than anything reactionary Chief Justice William Rhenquist has advocated. Under the Clinton statute, a defendant will have difficulty challenging his or her conviction in federal court even if it can be demonstrated that the conviction was based on unconstitutional procedures or insufficient evidence… Under the Clinton law, ‘mere innocence’ is not enough to secure a writ of habeas corpus.”
If you believe that only conservatives pose a threat to our rights, you are quite mistaken.
Den: “…but I’d still like to know who appointed Pat the decider on what is and is not appropriate to discuss in this forum.”
Obviously, no one. This is Peter’s blog and he has made it clear that as a free speech advocate he wishes to give us wide latitude. Basically, don’t insult his family, don’t libel people, and don’t post spoilers in threads that don’t contain spoiler warnings and you’re pretty safe.
While I wish to be careful not to speak for Peter, based on his stated desire to hold up his blog as a forum for free speech, I feel safe in saying that people can feel free to ignore Pat’s demands and continue to speak their minds in this thread about things like Gitmo.
While Pat’s comments came off badly, I think his larger point was valid–we should focus on the injustice done to Gordon Lee, an issue that fair minded people of all political persuasions can agree on. Fragmenting over the usual right/left, Republican/Democrat, running zombie/slow moving zombie does Mr Lee no good and just plays into the hands of those who pull these kinds of stunts.
At this point it looks like the prosecution has just invested too much into this to risk looking stupid and corrupt by doing the right thing and just going back to prosecuting actual criminals who are actually doing harm. Of course, here in North Carolina we’ve had lots of recent experience with out of control incompetent prosecutors. District Attorney Leigh Patterson might want to pay attention to how all that turned out.
Bill, you are absolutely correct (well, except for the zombie thing. Everyone knows that zombies can’t run). What hacked me off was Pat’s complete lack of tack in all but ordering people to stop talking about a point that he didn’t like.
I realize that many people would like to believe that everyone on their side of the fence is a saint while the other side is nothing but sinners. The truth is, it’s the nature of all governments to push the limits on what they can get away with in terms of controlling the populace. Today, however, I think more people are acutely aware of this administrations shenanigans than they were during the Clinton years (of whom I am no fan either), because few administrations have been so shameless and so blatant with their “we’re going to do what we want and we don’t care what anyone else thinks” attitude.
But you’re right, making this into a left/right debate does nothing to help the Gordon Lee case. Generally, in cases like this, it’s more about political ambition than anything else. Just as the DA in the Duke case exploited it to secure his reelection, I’m willing to bet whatever DA or sheriff signed off this case has his eye on some higher office.
This only seems to qualify as a left-right/BS-politics debate because your intolerance of prolonged indictment-without-trial is selectively applied. If you want to remove the BS politics from the discussion, then simply withhold your hypocrisy, and you will provide for yourself and us the thing you ask for.
Generally, in cases like this, it’s more about political ambition than anything else. Just as the DA in the Duke case exploited it to secure his reelection, I’m willing to bet whatever DA or sheriff signed off this case has his eye on some higher office.
Den, you’re probably 100% right about that. It makes you wonder though, how stupid they are. Do they really think they’re going to score big points on the “Let’s clean up our comics stores” platform?
Now if I was running against them I’d be sure to point out just how much money and man hours was wasted on this. Yeah, they’d hit back with “it’s for the children” but I’ll bet there are plenty of unsolved cases in town where kids were actually harmed. Would they have been solved if less attention had been wasted on the Lee case? Probably not but you could certainly score points by bringing it up and they would only have themselves to blame.
Since I’m more likely to be a victim than a defendant I’m usually on the side of the prosecutors but when they screw up as badly as Nifong did it’s great to see them taken down.
Bill Mulligan: “While Pat’s comments came off badly, I think his larger point was valid–we should focus on the injustice done to Gordon Lee, an issue that fair minded people of all political persuasions can agree on.”
I know I risk looking like I’m playing “kick Pat Nolan while he’s down,” but I think the fact that your comments were more well-received than Pat’s is significant and worth examining in the context of this thread. Pat tried to use intimidation to shut others down and got a bad reaction. On the other hand, you attempted to persuade others of the validity of Pat’s underlying P.O.V. by offering a well-reasoned argument and this was well-received. This is exactly why I believe so passionately in free expression. Tell someone to “just shut up” and they’ll simply walk away angry. Respectfully offer someone a point-of-view that’s different from theirs, and they just might listen to you.
Bill Mulligan: “District Attorney Leigh Patterson might want to pay attention to how all that turned out.”
I have little respect for Patterson, but I don’t think she’s comparable to Nifong. For one thing, I know of no reason to believe she has withheld exculpatory evidence as Nifong did. The danger in comparing Patterson to Nifong is that the former comes out looking better than she should. She’s no Nifong, but her office’s prosecution of Gordon is unjustifiable and the Floyd County DA’s office has demonstrated gross incompetence under her leadership.
You’re right–Nifong’s crimes were, well, actually criminal. And even if Mr Lee’s livelihood is destroyed it would not be as traumatic as what would have happened to the innocent Duke lacrosse players.
That said, we should have zero tolerance for prosecutors who lack common sense. They are given great power and we all know what comes with that. Whether the abuse is from mendacity or stupidity the result should be the same–those powers should be taken away.
The thing is, prosecutors aren’t defense attorneys, having to defend any scum they get. They can choose to prosecute or not to. When a needless travesty like this occurs they have only themselves to blame.
Personally, I would never have even started this idiocy but I can see where it could happen. But to have let it go this far and at so much cost…why anyone would trust Patterson to be able to make the kind of smart choices needed to do her job right is beyond me.
I think a case can be made that the internet can and has served a great purpose in sniffing out prosecutorial abuse. How many would have ever heard of Gordon Lee without the efforts of people like PAD? And blogs like Durham In Wonderland played a major role in nailing Nifong, something the local newspapers really fell down on the job doing.
Bill Mulligan: “Do they really think they’re going to score big points on the “Let’s clean up our comics stores” platform?”
Actually, yes. While your points are reasoned and logical, they fail to take into account how well people fall into the knee-jerk patterns of stupidity when the words “children” and “pornography” are linked together (no matter how truthful the charges.) Most people aren’t going to know what’s really going on in the comic book world, the news media will likely only run sound bytes and very few people read their news and get deeper coverage and more complete information.
It used to be that the greatest number of the ignorant were very much on the side of the manipulative in matters like this. That’s changing to some degree, but maybe not enough to fully matter numbers wise and certainly not enough for old dogs to have to learn new tricks yet.
Yeah, my faith in people as a whole is just wonderful…
Bill Myers: “I know I risk looking like I’m playing “kick Pat Nolan while he’s down,” but I think the fact that your comments were more well-received than Pat’s is significant and worth examining in the context of this thread.”
I think everybody gets what you’re saying and you’re not coming across that way (yet) to most others here. I think that they got it before. I agreed with Pat’s overall point even if I thought the form of the message was as bad as what he was criticizing. I’m not sure I would chalk it up to trying to use intimidation though. I thought it was just clumsily worded and poorly thought out. That’s why I ignored the messenger’s form while addressing the message in my post and Mulligan likely did the same for his reasons.
Bill Mulligan: “That said, we should have zero tolerance for prosecutors who lack common sense.”
Oh, agreed. And have no doubt that while I believe there is a difference between Nifong and Patterson, it’s a difference of degree. As I’ve said before in other forums, if Patterson had a shred of decency she would resign. If the voters in Floyd County have any sense, they won’t re-elect her to another term. And if there is any legal grounds for investigating Patterson’s handling of this case, and if there is any justice in this world, the appropriate authorities will take a good hard look at how Patterson has conducted herself as DA.
Jerry Chandler: “…you’re not coming across that way (yet)…”
Yeah? Well, SCREW OFF, CHANDLER! You SUCK!!!
There. Now how am I coming across?
(To the uninitiated: Jerry and I are friends. It’s all good.)
(Well, we’re friends for the time being, anyway.)
Jerry Chandler: “I think everybody gets what you’re saying and you’re not coming across that way (yet) to most others here. I think that they got it before.”
On a serious note, it’s hard to tell but the vibe I’m getting is that you believe I’m insulting people’s intelligence by hammering home a single point repeatedly. Actually, the reason why I tend to say the same thing more than once is that I usually find myself dissatisfied with how well I’ve expressed myself. It has nothing to do with my opinion of everyone else and everything to do with a frustration over my inability to express myself with precision and concision. I guess I’m hoping if I say the same thing often enough I’ll get it right at some point.
Just in case anyone is wondering.
If you’re not… move along, nothing to see here, carry on.
“I’m not sure I would chalk it up to trying to use intimidation though. I thought it was just clumsily worded and poorly thought out. That’s why I ignored the messenger’s form while addressing the message in my post and Mulligan likely did the same for his reasons.”
I got the same impression from Pat Nolan’s words.
Bill Myers: “On a serious note, it’s hard to tell but the vibe I’m getting is that you believe I’m insulting people’s intelligence by hammering home a single point repeatedly.”
Nahhhhh… There was supposed to be a 🙂 in that (yet) that got lost in the spell-check (or that I just plain forgot) on the system I was using. The only one that never gets lost is my ~8?)` design because there is no corresponding email emoticon to that design. I use an open email window to type my drafts in so that I don’t come off as completely devoid of spelling capabilities. Still, If Isaac Asimov could admit to be a bad speller from time to time, it can’t really be all that dámņìņg a thing…
Bill Myers: “It has nothing to do with my opinion of everyone else and everything to do with a frustration over my inability to express myself with precision and concision. I guess I’m hoping if I say the same thing often enough I’ll get it right at some point.”
I kinda figured that. I was just letting you know that it did come across fine. Guess it was my post wasn’t firing on all cylinders…
Bill Mulligan,
If you’re still having Vista issues with Firefox and spell-check on this site and others, try what I just mentioned. I did my usual email window thing on my friend’s Vista computer the other day and had no problems at all.
Perhaps someone will be generous enough to someday explain why Pat’s point, however refined, should apply to campchaos’s analogy for the Lee case, but not Den’s.
If you’re still having Vista issues with Firefox and spell-check on this site and others, try what I just mentioned. I did my usual email window thing on my friend’s Vista computer the other day and had no problems at all.
It’s worse than that–I can’t get firefox on my vista computer to even get on the site. It starts to load the site and freezes. I can only get on with Internet Explorer.
Since only my laptop has this problem and I’m going to try to limit its use to mostly non-internet projects this is just a minor annoyance but I’m hearing all kinds of grief associated with Vista. I will not be a happy camper if a lot of my video special effects programs don’t work on it. My own quibbles so far have just been this firefox problem and the occasional tendency for the computer to go into sleep mode and not want to wake up but this I can forgive since I am much the same.
Posted by campchaos at August 18, 2007 01:48 PM
I wasn’t meaning to bring politics into it. All I meant was that there are MANY people who may or may not be innocent of wrong doing who wait year after year after year without getting anywhere in the court system. The “detainees” were merely a 6-year old case that most people would recognize.
Thank you for the clarity campchaos. I wasnt in any way trying to intimidate you or any others for that matter into silence. I would think this blog is the absolute last place anybody would think of as a place they could control whats being discussed. Thats why I keep coming back.
My feeling was Peter took the time to to make Mr Lee’s case out there in the public eye and keep us updated as to how slowly the Proceedings were taking then campchaos threw out the people in dog cages in Gitmo comment and I thought it cheapened
the whole idea of the thread
Certainly campchaos can have those opinions but my opinion was keep it to a more relevant thread.
I agree the justice system is an oxymoron.
Bill – I work in an informatics section and we’re not looking at even trying Vista until next year. Heck, the computer store next door to my home advises clients to skip it and go with XP instead. That should tell you something. Scrap Vista and have someone put on XP or LINUX.
Only if the intolerance of prolonged indictment (and, in the analogy you find irrelevant, incarceration) without trial is to be selectively applied.
As the advocate that there are circumstances in which incarceration without trial should be allowed, I hope you can do better than sheltering an agenda closed to any judicial oversight arbitrarily calling anyone an “enemy combatant.”
Jerry Chandler –
Yeah, my faith in people as a whole is just wonderful…
But quite justified.
In any sane universe, this case in particular would’ve been finished long ago with the 1st Amendment coming out on top.