In Georgia, a comic book retailer named Gordon Lee was indicted more than a year ago for allegedly selling an adult comic book to a minor. The case went to trial today and something utterly unexpected occurred. The prosecution dismissed all charges and then re-filed to charge Lee under a similar charge covered by different statutes. They are, in effect, trying to start all over under slightly different rules.
The legal bills for Lee's defense, which look like they'll easily hit the $50,000 mark, have been handled by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a most worthy organization. Their website has a full report on today's developments here.
At the risk of making a Bill Frist-style diagnosis from afar, it sounds to me like the prosecutors are trying the old Bleed 'em Dry strategy. They're afraid they can't win on the merits of the case so they'll drag it out and make it expensive…and hope that the accused will agree to a fast plea bargain just to get the thing over with. This works more often in our nation than it should. I hope it doesn't here.