Damion gets a no-prize for bringing the interesting case of Jesus Castillo, the manager of a comic book store who got sentenced to 180 days in jail, 1 year probation, and a $4,000 fine for selling an adult comic book to an adult.

This will probably raise eyebrows with most of you until I note this ocurred in Texas.

Fortunately, on appeal, his sentence was reduced such that the portion requiring jail time was discarded. However, the overall obscenity charge was upheld, and a hearing by the supreme court was denied.

Was the comic obscene? Well, as with everything, depends on your definition. However, even in my own very liberal definition of obscenity, a woman having sex with a tree root pretty much crosses the line.

What I found much more interesting was that the jury ignored the fact that magazines like "Hustler" and "Penthouse" were available for purchase within a mile of the comic store. Of course, one of the very assets of comics is they allow the depiction of events that would be impossible to illustrate otherwise, so it's quite possible the comic went far beyond what could even be found in Hustler.

A very interesting case...