Obscenity or therapy? You be the judge

In Pennsylvania, a woman has pleaded guilty to violating federal obscenity laws for posting stories on her Web site involving the rape, torture and murder of children.

Karen Fletcher, who writes under the pen name “Red Rose,” claims she began writing the stories as a coping mechanism for her own sexual abuse. She then posted the stories to her Web site and charged members — 29 of them — a $10-per-month subscription.

Fletcher was sentenced last week to five years probation, with the first six months to be served under house arrest. (Hat tip: Wall Street Journal Law Blog, which links to the plea agreement that graphically describes six stories Fletcher admitted were obscene.)

“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,” U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti told Fletcher during sentencing.

What do you think about the case? Should Fletcher have been protected by the First Amendment?

CHRISTINA DORAN, The Daily Record