CBLDF To Appeal Castillo Decision To The U.S. Supreme Court

The Board of Directors of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has voted unanimously to appeal the case of Texas v. Castillo to the United States Supreme Court. This decision follows last week’s notice from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that Castillo’s Petition for Discretionary Review was refused.

Jesus Castillo was convicted for promoting obscenity by selling an adult manga to an adult in a Dallas comic book store. In the original trial, the Prosecution successfully secured Castillo’s conviction by introducing prejudicial comments about the store’s proximity to an elementary school and exploiting a misperception of comics as a children’s medium. The conviction was arrived at despite unchallenged expert testimony from the Defense and without using the “Miller Test” to determine whether the whole of the work in question was constitutionally obscene.

Attorneys funded by the CBLDF appealed the case on those constitutional grounds and were met with a split decision upholding Castillo’s conviction. Last August, the Fund’s lawyers submitted the Petition for Discretionary Review, which asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to reconsider the case. That plea was denied last week.

Castillo now faces criminal charges for doing his job. His penalty includes a six month suspended sentence, a $4,000 fine, and a year of probation. The Fund will continue to fight this injustice in the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The expense of doing so will not be less than $10,000, escalating this case’s projected costs to more than $50,000.

“It’s shameful that Jesus is facing these charges for responsibly selling adult material to an adult,” says Charles Brownstein, the Fund’s Executive Director. “While it’s anyone’s guess whether the high court will hear the case, it is our responsibility to this industry to take this fight as far as we can. While there is a chance of justice being served, we cannot back down. Especially in this case where a man’s liberty is being trampled by forces who fail to recognize the comic book medium’s ability to speak to adult audiences and the rights of retailers to responsibly distribute such speech to its appropriate audience.”

Brownstein continues, “The Fund has already had its most expensive legal year in recent memory, and the costs of supporting those legal battles just skyrocketed again. Fighting those battles is the right thing to do, but to do it, we need the support of the comics community more than ever. If you believe in the rights of retailers and cartoonists to create and sell the full breadth of content this medium offers, then we need your help. If you’re not already a member, now is the time to join. If you can spare any donation , large or small, it will make it possible for us to push forward. Now is the time to get involved with the Fund. Now is the time for us to stand together as a community and fight this injustice.”