POLK COUNTY, FL – Chris Wilson, the Florida-based webmaster of NowThatsFuckedUp.com who was charged earlier this month with 300 misdemeanor counts and a single felony, all related to obscenity, has entered a plea of not guilty to all counts.“We’re hoping that the adult web community sees the significance of this case,” Wilson’s attorney, noted First Amendment specialist Larry Walters, told YNOT, adding that the 301 charges constitute “the most obscenity charges I’ve ever seen. It has to set some kind of record.”
Walters noted that the 301 charges stem from 100 allegedly obscene depictions, meaning that each depiction is carrying 3 charges; a charge related to distribution of obscene materials, one of offering to distribute obscene materials, and a third charge of conspiring to distribute obscene materials. The 301st charge, on top of the 3-to-1 charge per depiction, is the lone felony charge, which is for “wholesale distribution” of obscene materials.
“There is no evidence that I’m aware of to support a wholesale distribution charge,” Walters said. “Nothing was for resale, which is what the state has to show in order to support the claim of wholesale distribution.”
The lack of evidence to support the felony charge isn’t the only weakness in the state’s case, according to Walters, who said there are “lots of problems with their theories” and “real preemption issues.”
Walters said he hasn’t seen the videos and images the state alleges to be obscene, and that the authorities have yet to return property seized from his client which has no relevance to the case, and which Walters contends the state had no right to seize in the first place.
“They took a bunch of property that is completely unrelated to obscenity,” Walters said, “and that’s just wrong.” Walters specified that among the property seized was his client’s firearm, despite the fact that Wilson is legally licensed to carry firearms in Florida, and the gun itself was legally registered, leaving no valid reason for its seizure.
Wilson’s site started out its life as a fairly typical “user-post” adult site, which displayed images and videos submitted by amateur photographers. The website started to draw a lot of attention – both desired and otherwise – when Wilson began offering free access to the site for military personnel on duty in Iraq and Afghanistan who could prove they were actively serving; one acceptable form of proof was to submit graphic photos of enemy corpses (i.e. allegedly those of the Taliban, Al Qaeda fighters, and the like).
Walters said he believes there is a strong possibility that his client’s arrest and prosecution stem not from the allegedly obscene sexual images and videos on his site, but from the controversy surrounding the war photos.
“There is definite concern that the local Sheriff may have been prompted by someone in the federal government, or the military,” Walters said, raising the possibility that the government is intentionally misapplying the obscenity laws as a form of censorship.
“Of course, we don’t want to see an obscenity prosecution under any circumstances,” Walters said, “but if these are the real motivations, then it’s even worse.”
