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Court Rejects First Amendment Challenges to Child Related Obscenity Charges

By Jonathan Byrne

US v. Whorley: Whorley was charged with a whole boatload of obscenity and child pornography charges after his receipt of that material was discovered on a publically accessible computer. Specifically, he was charged with 20 counts of receiving obscene Japanese cartoons depicting children; 20 counts of doing so after having been previously convicted of possessing child pornography; 15 counts of possession of child pornography (based on photographs); and 20 counts of sending or receiving obscene Emails describing children in interstate commerce. He was convicted by a jury on 74 of the 75 counts (one of the child porn counts was dismissed) and sentenced to 240 months in prison.On appeal, Whorley challenged the obscenity convictions - those involving the Emails and cartoons - and the enhanced sentence for the cartoon charges, arguing that they violated the First Amendment, in several ways...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Circuit Blog on December 23, 2008 (boomark / email).