The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Strikes Back.
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Gordon Lee and the CBLDF Win

After nearly four years of courtroom drama and a $100,000 spent by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, embattled comic retailer Gordon Lee has been cleared of all charges. On Friday at the New York Comic Con, at “The CBLDF Presents An Evening with Neil Gaiman,” the lauded writer took the stage and announced that the charges against Lee had been dropped.[1] Though the logistics of the judge’s decision remain unclear as of this week’s Comicscape, it should hearten every Maniac to know that the good guys can win in real life, too.  Lee’s ordeal began in 2004, and has proven that the First Amendment remains surprisingly controversial in some parts of the country. 

On Halloween of 2004 in the town of Rome, Georgia, Gordon Lee’s comic shop, Legends, distributed 2,200 free comic books as a promotional campaign. One of the comics included a Free Comic Book Day edition of Alternative Comics #2 from the publisher of the same name. The comic included an excerpt from Nick Bertozzi’s graphic novel The Salon—a work of historical fiction about the cubism movement. It depicted a scene between artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, in which Picasso appears nude in three of eight pages. Based on an actual incident, the scene features no sex. Among the many comics given away, that issue of Alternative Comics was accidentally given to a minor—allegedly a nine-year-old boy. The boy’s parent objected to the comic and filed a complaint with the police. Lee offered to publicly apologize, but was rebuked and arrested.[2]

In February 2005, Gordon Lee asked the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund for help with his case. In Spring of 2005, he was initially charged with, as stated by the CBLDF’s newsletter Busted!, “1) Two counts of distributing material depicting nudity or sexual content, a felony; and 2) Five counts of unlawful disposition of materials to minors, a misdemeanor. The felony counts alleged that Lee had distributed the comic to the named victim and to a ‘John Doe.’ Three of the misdemeanor counts were for distributing the single comic to the named victim, with the other two counts alleging that the comic was distributed to ‘John Does.’”[2] The inclusion of additional “victims” foreshadowed the confusion that would later plague Lee’s case, in which District Attorney Leigh Patterson’s office eventually changed its facts as to how many children received the offending comics in the first place. In this case, the court ultimately dismissed both felony counts and two of the “John Doe” misdemeanor counts. The remaining three misdemeanors were consolidated into two counts of Distribution of Material Harmful to a Minor.[2]

With the felonies dropped and the misdemeanors reduced, Lee faced a less serious ordeal. However, if convicted, he could have still faced $1,000 in fines and a year in prison. According to the text of the law, again by way of Busted!, Lee was charged “1) for ‘distributing a book, pamphlet, magazine, and printed matter containing pictures, drawings and visual representation and images of a person an portion of the human body which depict sexually explicit nudity, sexual conduct, and sadomasochistic abuse and which is harmful to minors;’ and (2) for knowingly furnishing and disseminating to a minor materials ‘containing explicit and detailed verbal descriptions and narrative accounts of sexual excitement, sexual conduct, and sadomasochistic abuse and which taken as a whole is harmful to minors.’”[2]

On April 2, 2006, the prosecution decided to dismiss the two misdemeanor charges based on the original facts. But, it decided to re-charge Lee and change its story. Lee was originally charged with the two counts of Distributing Materials Harmful to a minor for giving Alternative Comics #2 to a nine-year-old boy. The prosecution then decided that its facts were wrong, and that he had given the comic to the same child and his six-year-old brother. Lee was charged again with two counts of the same violation, based on their new version of the story. On May 19, 2006, Lee was arraigned again, and on May 30^th, the CBLDF filed several motions. Most were for dismissal of the charges, but among them was one for prosecutorial misconduct against the District Attorney’s office. In essence, the motion alleged prosecutorial misconduct for moving forward on the original charges. Ostensibly, the DA’s office knew that the original facts were inaccurate—given the details of its new story—but moved forward in trying to prosecute Lee. The motions filed also asserted that the Distribution of Harmful Materials law was unconstitutional.

On June 2, the prosecution re-charged Lee for a third time. According to Busted!: “They filed a new indictment procured in a special session of the Grand Jury that replaced the second accusation, likely in response to the Fund’s motion to quash the accusation that Lee was entitled to be indicted before the Grand Jury under Georgia law.” It turns out neither the first nor second counts were formally dismissed either, making Lee face three sets of charges. All of the motions for dismissal—and that of prosecutorial misconduct—were dismissed, the court calling the third set of charges a “reincarnation. “

In November 2007, the new trial began. But, it resulted in a mistrial, because of the number of ineligible jurors based on a story in the Rome News-Tribune. It seemed that in 1994, Lee had been convicted for selling obscene materials to adults, in the form of two pornographic comics. Though his appeal was later denied, his sentence was suspended for $250 and the matter was closed with the help of the CBLDF. Though unrelated to the situation at hand, the newspaper story effectively related the two incidents and rendered much of the jury biased. The DA’s office vowed to take Lee to trial again, but it was not to be.[3]

Last week, on the first Friday of the New York Comic Con Neil Gaiman took the stage at the CBLDF’s event and announced that all charges against Lee had been dismissed. As stated, the DA’s office stated its intentions to bring another trial after mistrial and failed to do so in reelection year for DA Leigh Patterson. To Newsarama,Charles Brownstein, Executive Director for the CBLDF stated: “If Gordon did indeed hand Alternative Comics #2 with the Salon excerpt to a minor, then he should have been confronted and asked for an apology by the parents not the law. When the police decided to arrest and the prosecution decided to press charges, they should have never overcharged him with two felonies and five misdemeanors. When all but two misdemeanors were thrown out, and we were in Georgia for trial, the prosecutors should have gotten their facts right and not forced us to go back to start. And when we were finally at trial the second time, they shouldn’t have created a mistrial.

”This has been a tragedy of errors. Gordon has been unjustly maligned and prosecuted throughout. All along the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, our board members, and all of our supporters have stood behind Gordon’s innocence, and now that faith has been vindicated.”[1]

Gordon Lee has served as an example of the dangers that free expression and comics still face in some parts of the country. The Internet and other media are rife with content far more offensives than Alternative Comics #2. But like any printed media, anyone with delicate sensibilities can take an offending comic to law enforcement with great ease. It doesn’t take much to buy a comic and show a few pictures to a sheriff in the wrong county. That sort of vulnerability places comic retailers at great risk for a costly legal ordeal. The image of Pablo Picasso nude hardly qualifies as obscene in any legal or moral sense of the word. But, it’s enough in some communities to throw a small business owner’s life into turmoil. As of the writing of this column, the CBLDF has spent over $100,000 defending Lee against two trumped-up misdemeanor charges. There are instances of real obscenity involving actual people that deserve that kind of time and attention. But, the DA’s office of Rome, Georgia decided to make an example of Lee for the same kind of “family values” agenda that so often stifles free expression. Thankfully, the CBLDF stood up when a court wanted nothing more than for everyone to sit down. Though the severity of Lee’s ordeal had waned with the initial reduction of charges, the principle stood. At best, what Lee did merited an apology. Unintentional offenses usually do, and he certainly had no intention of corrupting a child. Given the number of comics distributed that Halloween, neither he nor anyone else at Legends could’ve inspected every one. Perhaps Legends should’ve have considered only distributing children’s comics a la Archie or Marvel Adventures titles. But, the situation deserved nothing more than a sincere apology, which Lee offered. 

Lee’s ordeal is over, but, no doubt, similar ones await. Remember that the First Amendment is only secure as long as citizens will stand up and fight those that would try to curtail its freedoms. Congratulations from Comicscape to Gordon Lee and the CBLDF for a victory hard won and well deserved.

[1] Brady, M. (2008)NYCC 08: gordon lee case dismissed. Retrieved April 21, 2008 from Newsarama website: http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=154204

[2] Gordon lee: the road to trial. (2007). Retrieved April 21, 2008 from Comic Book Legal Defense Fund website: http://www.cbldf.org/articles/archives/000318.shtml

[3] ‘Everyone is sickened by what gordon is facing. (2007). Retrieved April 21, 2008 from ICv2 website: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/11593.html

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