The place: Staunton, Virginia. A small town along the 81 corridor of the Western part of the state. Just down the road from the home of Thomas Jefferson, one of our founding fathers.
The crime: Selling movies of adults having sex with each other.
In the United States. In 2008.
August 16, 2008 was a slow news day at Kos. But here in a small town in Virginia a jury convicted Rick Krial, the owner of After Hours Video on obscenity charges for selling DVDs of adults having sex with each other.
Their argument?
The government claimed the movies should be criminalized because:
* They depict sick behavior.
* They appeal to sick people.
* Watching movies like this makes people masturbate and makes them watch more movies, rape women and molest children.
* Criminalizing the movies is part of protecting American society from moral depravity.
In America. In 2008.
Dr. Marty Klein came to Staunton to testify against this trial. As he wrote for Alternet.org:
I am desperate for you to understand this: An American city, in the year 2008, asked a jury of seven men and women to declare that a movie of adults having sex could be illegal. City prosecutor Ray Robertson said that some movies -- these movies, for sure -- could be so dangerous that they fall outside the protection of our glorious First Amendment.
They were not obscene. They were of adults having sex. August 16, 2008 was a sad day for America although it went widely unnoticed.
Think this can't happen elsewhere?
The federal Department of Justice was involved in this. Attorney Matthew Buzzelli, part of the DOJ's medieval Obscenity Prosecution Task Force, was serving as co-prosecutor, even though there were no federal indictments. Prosecuting a tiny shop in tiny Staunton is part of a bigger plan to attack smut across the country. "They're interested in how we do here," said local prosecutor Robertson.
-Dr. Marty Klein
Be afraid. Be very afraid. This town just lost their First Amendment right.
Who's next?