Gang Ruling from State's Top Court

Today the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously upheld the state's anti-gang statute. The court agreed that it does not infringe on First Amendment rights. The law was challenged by Efrain Rodriguez and Gilberto Rodriguez, who were both charged with murder in the 2006 death of a rival gang member. The state's highest court rejected their attorneys argument that the anti-gang law used to prosecute them is unconstitutionally vague and tramples on the rights to freely associate.

(Associated Press)

No Charges for Comic Book Store Owner

Floyd County prosecutors have ended a multi year case against Legends Comic Book Store owner Gordon Lee. Officials say Lee had distributed obscene material to minors.

On Halloween night three years ago, Lee handed out over twenty two hundred comic books to costumed children. One of the comics was about Pablo Picasso, and in one of the panels, the famed artist appeared nude.

That comic ended up in the hands of two small children. Their parents brought the comic to authorities, and in all, nine charges related to obscenity were brought against Lee.

The comic book store owner found out he was cleared this Friday.

“We finally got a call from our attorney and he said it’s over. We were just ecstatic that it was finally over, just trying to put it behind us.”

Lee had to postpone his wedding to fight the charges, which cost over one hundred thousand dollars in defense fees. Free speech advocates and the comic industry paid much of that bill. Lee issued personal apologies to the family as part of the deal.