This post is on the BDSM Activism web board.
| 6 Aug 10, 9:51 PM go4it UK, 8 yrs |
Think you've lost the plot. There was a trial. The defendant pleaded not guilty. The trial begun. After the opening attack, the prosecution showed the jury the entire clip. Apparently around this point his legal team advised him to change his plea to guilty, which advice, reluctantly, he followed. So the trial concluded and a sentencing date was set. According to their May press release it was at this point that Backlash stepped in and got that plea reversed, which is significant on its own. There will have been the usual exchange of legal arguments in the succeeding months before the scheduled retrial, so the CPS did not exactly fold by mistake. After all the effort they had already invested, this is a significant decision. I heard somewhere (an IC thread?) that the prosecution did not dispute the defendant only viewed the initial 6 seconds of a much longer clip (because he didn't like it), yet they showed the jury the entire clip. Being convicted for possessing something you had not viewed would have made for an interesting appeal.
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| 6 Aug 10, 9:59 PM Tanos  UK(M), 14 yrs    |
Slightly tangential: Donald McGill was convicted under the (old) Obscene Publications Act for this postcard in 1954 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/... That's the mentality we're up against. It's just that the dividing line between censorship and freedom of expression has been moved a lot since then. But they still want to control what people think by controlling what they can see. Regards, Tanos www.tanos.org.uk | |
| 7 Aug 10, 1:27 AM emark UK, 9 yrs |
One of the problems of the law is that it can often be very vague trying to distinguish "porn" and "joke" - and the terms don't even have to be mutually exclusive. E.g., I can conceive that one might have an image showing genitals that might be deemed porn based on looking at the image, but it could also be true that the image was only sent or viewed as a joke. In neither case do we actually know why it was originally produced (and note, AFAICT from the article, it doesn't say the image was produced as a joke, just that it was sent to him as a joke). And perhaps there are parallels with the "porn on phone" case I posted - it seems it that case too, no one was getting off on the image; he may well have been also sent the image as a joke, or more generally, that it was viewed as a "shock image", rather than something or porn. But in that case, he didn't challenge the charge, and is now doing 200 hours of labour. | |
| 7 Aug 10, 1:44 AM Mac_rame UK(E), 12 yrs |
Well I think there may be some mileage in trying the FOIA on each of these cases to establish how much cash has been spent preparing a case that the CPS subsequently failed to go foreward with? If we can generate enough statistics showing x amount of cash chasing someone who looks at porn and compare it with the the average amount to catch a paedophile or rapist then this could help turn public opinion against this legislation and hasten it's removal under the new government? Anyone know if this is something any of the activism groups are looking into? Wayne
Politicians are like nappies | |
| 7 Aug 10, 7:49 AM rubberroy UK(TN), 6 yrs  |
Maybe the ConDem regime's round of cuts will mean to some if not all the ep cases. the cost of even one test case will be enormous; the chances are the state will lose, lose face as a result, and lose millions in legal fees. Top barristers aren't cheap. I see on the news this morning they're cutting funding for legal aid too, this could be worrying if someone is charged with ep and can's afford to pay his own legal bills. Supplier of classic motor omnibuses for weddings and all sorts of events in the south of England. | |
| 7 Aug 10, 2:01 PM doulos UK(SW), 7 yrs |
Backlash are looking into it. If you had experience with drafting FOIA requests, your help would be appreciated. It can be quite difficult to write them in a way that is sufficiently unambiguous that civil servants feel compelled to answer them. "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." H. L. Mencken | |
| 10 Aug 10, 9:08 AM Degenerate UK(M), 5 yrs  |
Congratulations to Andrew Holland who has had a very long time thinking he may be facing prison, finally free thank goodness.  Nice work and well done to the CAAN advocate who gained contact with and supported Andrew to go to Backlash for legal advice and advocacy. Congratulations to Backlash for a brilliant victory and supporting Andrew to fight back and turn this case around.
People, keep spreading the word everywhere you can to not accept cautions or warnings for possession of extreme porn in the first place, go no comment, get a solicitor and contact Backlash UK for legal support, or CAAN for media back up, signposting & support. In solidarity, De Sign up to CAAN's statement www.caan.org.uk Edited 10 Aug 10, 9:10 AM by Degenerate |
