Gordon Lee case: "Back to square one"

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund said tonight that even though the charges against Gordon Lee were dropped this morning, the prosecution is filing new charges against the Georgia retailer:

The long-running case of Georgia v. Gordon Lee took yet another strange turn of events yesterday when the prosecution dismissed all charges against the Rome, Georgia retailer only to bring a new accusation arising from the Halloween 2004 incident that resulted in his arrest.

When Judge Larry Salmon entered the courtroom shortly after 9 AM Monday, prosecutors declared the case nolle prosse, meaning that the charges that were to go to trial this week have been dismissed. Prosecutors are re-filing under a new accusation alleging that Lee handed "Alternative Comics #2" to a six-year-old minor and his nine-year-old brother, instead of solely to the nine-year-old, as has been previously, and repeatedly, declared.

Lee now faces two misdemeanor counts of "Distribution of Materials Harmful to a Minor" (OCGA 16-12-103). One count alleges he "did unlawfully ... knowingly furnish and disseminate to a minor ... a book, pamphlet, magazine and printed matter containing pictures, drawings and visual representation and images of a person or portion of the human body which depict sexually explicit nudity, sexual conduct, and sadomasochistic abuse and which is harmful to minors..." The second count alleges that he disseminated and furnished material containing "explicit and detailed verbal descriptions and narrative accounting of sexual excitement, sexual conduct, and sadomasochistic abuse and which taken as a whole is harmful to minors."

The dismissal of the case against Lee is a victory for the retailer, though the new accusation sets his defense back to square one. The next step will be for prosecutors to bring a new arraignment for Lee, at which point the case proceeds down the long road to trial all over again. Defense Attorney Paul Cadle says, "This is a victory, but it means we have to keep going."

Visit CBLDF.org for more information and to donate to the cause.