FC: Judge says Ohio man with dirty diary can't change guilty plea

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Wed Sep 05 2001 - 10:19:43 PDT

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    Previous Politech coverage:
    
    "Ohio man convicted for 'obscene' stories in his private journal"
    http://www.politechbot.com/p-02223.html
    
    "George Will on Ohio man arrested for dirty diary entries"
    http://www.politechbot.com/p-02326.html
    
    -Declan
    
    ********
    
    To: cypherpunksat_private
    From: emcat_private (Eric Cordian)
    Subject: Naughty Journal Author Denied Plea Change
    Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 16:01:56 -0700 (PDT)
    
    Not unsurprisingly, the judge has refused to permit a man sentenced to 10
    years in prison for textual depictions of child sex in a private journal
    to withdraw his guilty plea and get a trial.
    
    As F. Lee Bailey once said, the major flaw in the American justice system
    is that appeals focus only on procedural errors, and ones guilt or
    innocence is never again an issue after the original trial, even if that
    trial reached the wrong result.
    
    Having concluded that all the i's were dotted and the t's crossed in the
    screwing of Mr. Dalton by the state of Ohio, justice proceeds merrily
    onward.
    
    -----
    
    COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A man sentenced to prison for writing fantasies in his
    personal journal about torturing and molesting children cannot change his
    guilty plea, a judge ruled Tuesday.
    
    Franklin County Judge Nodine Miller said Brian Dalton did not demonstrate
    a "manifest injustice" had taken place.
    
    Dalton, 22, had asked to withdraw his guilty plea, saying it was not made
    knowingly or intelligently, and that he was expecting to be sentenced to
    treatment, not 10 years in prison.
    
    The case alarmed experts in First Amendment and obscenity law, who believe
    Dalton is the first person in the country successfully prosecuted for
    simply writing what was judged to be child pornography. "Definitely this
    is a matter of grave constitutional concerns," said attorney Benson
    Wolman, a former executive director of the American Civil Liberties
    Union's Ohio chapter. He said he will ask the court to set aside Dalton's
    conviction, or file a delayed appeal.
    
    ...
    
    -- 
    Eric Michael Cordian 0+
    O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
    "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"
    
    
    
    
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