Guilty of WHAT??!!

Judge Conti told Ms. Fletcher that she would have seriously considered a sentence of incarceration had the government not recommended against it.

"If anyone would have read the story and acted upon it, a little child could have suffered devastation that you would have had to live with for the rest of your life," she said.

So once again the right to express oneself by creating politically incorrect horror stories is destroyed because a judge claims something that has absolutely no proof whatsoever...that people will act upon the horrifying imagery they read about in stories. Or, more to the point, that imagery involving the abuse of children will more likely lead to someone acting on it, as if those who are attracted to children have an exceptionally good chance of being responsive to violence. I doubt Ms. Fletcher's 29 paying customers/readers were genuine pedophiles, who would be horrified by such depictions of violence. Several websites actually offer such stories, and I think that such stories can indeed be a release of someone's dark fantasies rather than an incitement to commit actual acts of violence. Do people who watch the "Friday the 13" franchise actually end up going out and murdering teenagers who have sex with each other? Should all of these films be banned on the grounds that they are obscene? Or is the murder of kids who willingly have sex with each other somehow less profane than the thought of killing kids that were entirely virginal?

The U.S. should be ashamed of itself for letting something like this happen. And Judge Conti seriously considered incarcaration for Ms. Fletcher just for writing stories? The U.S. is getting as bad as Canada in its attempts to legally ban offending works of prose. Perhaps Judge Conti should be under house arrest for considering a miscarriage of justice against a pathetic soul like Ms. Fletcher? I can't wait for the day when judges are held fully accountable for any unconstitutional act.