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Appeals Court: Free Web Site Owner
By Jason Geary
The Ledger
LAKELAND -- A Lakeland-based appellate court Thursday ordered that alleged Internet pornographer Christopher Wilson be released immediately from the Polk County Jail.
The 2nd District Court of Appeal did not state in its brief order why Wilson should be released, but said a written opinion would follow on the matter.
Wilson was freed from the jail at 9 p.m. Thursday.
A three-judge panel, consisting of judges Stevan T. Northcutt, Douglas A. Wallace and Edward LaRose, ruled unanimously to grant Wilson's request that he be released and his bail reinstated.
Wilson, 28, is known for operating a controversial Web site from his Lakeland apartment, which sparked national attention for giving soldiers free access to pornography in exchange for posting pictures from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office began an investigation and arrested Wilson on Oct. 7 on 301 obscenity-related charges.
In November, Polk prosecutors requested that Wilson's $151,000 bail be revoked because his Web site continued to operate.
After reviewing 30 pictures and three videos from Wilson's site, Circuit Judge J. Dale Durrance revoked Wilson's bail on Dec. 16, finding there was probable cause to think the pictures were obscene.
The judge ordered that Wilson, a former Eagle Lake police officer, be held without bail until his trial.
Since then, Wilson's defense team has been trying to get him out of jail -- even filing an emergency request via e-mail with the United States Supreme Court to reverse Durrance's decision. The Supreme Court denied that request on Christmas Day.
Lawrence Walters, an Orlando lawyer representing Wilson, said he was elated when he heard about the 2nd DCA's decision and is eager to see the court's opinion.
"Particularly, because if the court agrees with a number of our arguments, this case might be over," Walters said.
The defense has argued that Wilson's "case illustrates one of the clearest and most egregious examples of how the obscenity statute can be misused by law enforcement seeking to interfere with First Amendment rights."
The defense claims that the pictures and videos on his site are protected by the First Amendment until a jury determines they are obscene. They consider Wilson's incarceration to be illegal and equal to "prior restraint" and "prior punishment."
"He should not have been in there in the first place," Walters said.
However, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist's office filed an eight-page response Wednesday to the defense's argument.
The response stated Durrance was "in the best position" to evaluate the evidence and determine that there was probable cause that Wilson had committed new offenses by continuing to operate the Web site.
Walters said another pending matter before the appellate court is whether Durrance should be taken off the case.
On Thursday, Chip Thullbery, a spokesman for the State Attorney's Office in Bartow, said the case against Wilson would go forward, but declined to comment specifically on his release.
"It would be inappropriate to comment on his release without having an opportunity to review the court's opinion," Thullbery said.
Sheriff's Office Chief of Staff Gary Hester said the department doesn't have a comment on the court's decision to release Wilson and is simply responsible for enforcing state laws.
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