Dwight Whorley, the first person convicted under the PROTECT Act of 2003 anti-child pornography law is still convicted.  A three judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction.  They ruled that there did not need to be an actual child involved in the child pornography for a conviction under the law.

Whorley, a registered sex offender, had gone to a Virginia Employment Commission office to use one of the free public computers intended for out-of-work people to use to search for jobs.  Instead of trying to find a job, he used it to download kiddie porn.  He downloaded over 70 images in total, 20 of them being Japanese anime illustrations depicting prepubescent female children being forced to have sexual intercourse with adult males.  The rest of the photos were photos of real children engaging in real sex acts.

He argued that the 20 Japanese anime illustrations were protected “free speech”.  Two of the three judges rejected that argument.

To read the 45 page ruling in PDF format, lick here.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals reviews decisions reached in federal district courts in Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Some comic book fans think that the PROTECT Act of 2003 law will eventually be misused by overly ambitious prosecutors against comic book collectors.  They also contend that illustrated child porn isn’t real child porn, it’s only “lines on a paper”.  Maybe they should try explaining that to pedophiles like Dwight Whorley.  He obviously thought the images were much more than “lines on a paper”. These images, like the photos of real children being sexually abused he also downloaded, obviously appealed to his prurient nature.

Imagine that.