There was an uproar about Christopher Handley who pleaded guilty last year for possessing “drawings of children being sexually abused.”  Many thought he should have fought the charges but instead took a different route.

On Wednesday he was sentenced to six months incarceration today, followed by three years of supervised release and five years probation, which will include limits to his internet usage and restrictions regarding contact with children, though his defense is trying to get those last two dropped. Handley will also have to take a treatment programme, including psychological examination and polygraph readings on his release.

Handley had ordered various Japanese Manga which was seized by Post Office workers in 2006.  Some of these volumes featured drawings depicting underage sex, an aspect of manga that is not illegal in Japan.  A further raid of his home turned up more material.

This case was rallied around as an example of free speech as the material in question were drawings and no one was harmed.  Free speech you disagree with or are even disgusted by is free speech that needs to be defended.

Just another example of a failure to defend our freedom and a principle this country was founded on.