Castillo v. Texas

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Castillo v. State
CourtTexas Court of Appeals
Full case name Jesus A. Castillo, Jr., Appellant, v. The State of Texas, Appellee.
DecidedJuly 2, 2002 (2002-07-02)
Citation79 S.W.3d 817
Case history
Appealed toSupreme Court of the United States (denied March 24, 2003 (2003-03-24))
Court membership
Judges sittingTom James, Kerry Fitzgerald, Molly Francis
Case opinions
Decision byFrancis
DissentJames
Keywords

Castillo v. Texas, 79 S.W. 3d 817 (Tex. 2002) was a controversial Texan court decision in which Jesus Castillo, an employee of a comic book store in Dallas, Texas, was charged with two counts of "display of obscenity", and convicted for one, after selling adult comics to an adult.

Background

Castillo was sentenced to 180 days in jail (since suspended), a year's probation, and a $4,000 fine. The Legend trial was subsequently dropped. The case was appealed to the Fifth District Court of Appeals, where it was upheld in a split decision, and later on to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals as well as eventually to the U.S. Supreme Court; both were denied.[1] The case drew considerable controversy (and incredulity), especially online. Public opinion was on Castillo's side, and the trial was widely considered absurd. The $4,000[2] for the fine was collected via fund-raisers. It also came to the attention of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which became heavily involved and spent tens of thousands of dollars for Castillo's defense. Keith's Comics has since voluntarily removed comics with a rating worse than 'R' from its selection.

References

  1. "Supreme Court denies Jesus Castillo case". Anime News Network. August 5, 2003. Archived from the original on October 14, 2015. Retrieved February 5, 2013.
  2. Seidman, Steven; Fischer, Nancy; Meeks, Chet (2006). Handbook of the New Sexuality Studies. Taylor & Francis. pp. 378–. ISBN 9780415386487. Retrieved February 5, 2013.

External links

Text of Castillo v. State (2002) is available from: Leagle