En Banc 5th Circuit: Child Porn Victims Can Get Restitution from Possessors
AP: Child pornography victims can recover money from people convicted of viewing their abuse without having to show a link between the crime and their injuries, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. | In re: Amy Unknown (For the reasons above, we reject the approach of our sister circuits and hold that § 2259 imposes no generalized proximate cause requirement before a child pornography victim may recover restitution from a defendant possessing images of her abuse)
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refuses to hear ban on photographing people without their consent for sexual purposes
Texas Penal Code § 21.15(b)(1) makes it a crime to photograph someone “without the person’s consent” and “with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person.” . . . a Texas appellate court upheld the statute . . . Today, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused to review . . .
Texas Supreme Court upholds so-called “pole tax”
Lower courts had called the so-called “pole tax” an improper burden on the free expression of nude dancing and a violation of the First Amendment.
Texas Court of Appeals upholds El Paso SOB ordinance
E.B.S. Enterprises v. City of El Paso, No. 8-10-00088-CV (Tx. Ct. App. Aug. 10, 2011)
Appellants assert three arguments in contending that the trial court erred in granting the City’s motion for summary judgment. The first contests the relevancy of the City’s secondary effects evidence to enacting four provisions of the ordinance that apply to Appellants. The second complains that there was a genuine issue of material fact. And the third asserts that the ordinance is preempted by a State statute. We find no merit in any of the issues raised . . .
5th Circuit: Video of minor in tanning salon not child pornography
Houston Chronicle: “In a decision released Friday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the video discovered on Alan Ray Steen’s camera was not sexually explicit and didn’t rise to the federal legal definitions that would have made the video warrant the charge.” | United States of America v. Steven, No. 10-50114 (5th Cir. Feb. 25, 2011)
TX: Airport steaming over strip club neighbor
“A new Rick’s Cabaret is about to open near the South entrance to DFW International Airport . . . The new strip club is trying to get a liquor license from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Prominent Tarrant County leaders, including County Judge Glen Whitley, are protesting the permit.”
TX: Strip clubs challenge Fort Worth law on exterior paint
“Three strip clubs challenge the constitutionality of a Fort Worth law that demands that sexually oriented businesses be painted in a single ‘achromatic’ color with a single ‘achromatic’ trim, ‘both colors consisting of a neutral earth tone color only.’”
5th Circuit: 18-month delay does not render child porn evidence stale
United States v. David Allen, No. 09-50283 (5th Cir. Nov. 4, 2010)
5th Circuit: Recipient of child pornography can challenge “sex offender” label prior to release and registration
Pearson v. Holder, No. 09-10808 (5th Cir. Oct. 20, 2010)
Law Review: Should Texas’s Former Ban on Obscene Device Promotion Pass Constitutional Muster Under a Murky Lawrence?
Laura M. Clark, 41 St. Mary’s L.J. 177 (2009)
“Part IV will analyze relevant U.S. Supreme Court holdings and Texas cases, apply Lawrence to the Texas and Alabama statutes, and examine whether the Texas statute might be changed to pass constitutional muster.”
