Dallas comic store obscenity case
ICv2, a trade site for pop culture retailers, reports on a disturbing obscenity case in Texas. "The lawyer for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) has filed an appeal to the highest criminal court in Texas in the obscenity conviction of Jesus Castillo, manager of a Dallas comic store. Castillo was convicted by a jury in August 2000 of 'display of obscenity' for selling [the comic book] Demon Beast Invasion #2 to an adult. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail, a year's probation, and a $4,000 fine." Castillo was actually arrested twice for selling Demon Beast Invasion comics on different occasions, but the second charge was dropped. In early 2001, the Dallas Observer covered the stings that snared the comic store clerk and subsequent legal maneuvering. "The arrests of Castillo, a high school graduate who never worked anywhere else, fit the city's pattern of vice squad enforcement typically aimed at adult stores. The vice cops come in, purchase a product to build an obscenity case around, and arrest whichever hapless clerk or manager rings up the sale." There are discussion threads about the case at 8bit Joystick, Comicon.com and Metafilter.
