Blog for Democracy

The sad, strange tale of Alvin Green gets sadder and stranger

Today, Alvin Green, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in South Carolina and favorite topic of conversation around these parts, was indicted on felony obscenity charges for showing pornographic material to a college student last year. Greene was previously arrested on the charge in November, so it isn’t entirely out of left field, but the indictment was still not necessarily expected in this case.  Just imagine the fun that Jim DeMint will have parading around that his Democratic opponent has been indicted on felony obscenity charges…and imagine the harm that will do to the other Democratic candidates on the ballot in South Carolina this year. It’s a nightmare scenario.

Meanwhile, is anyone else shocked that showing someone obscene material is a felony in South Carolina? If Greene hadn’t blown his cash wad on his $10K qualifying fee, perhaps he could afford to hire a lawyer who could get the charges thrown out or pled down to nothing. Hopefully Jen knows more than I do about how to fight this sort of charge on 1st amendment or other constitutional grounds…but it seems like a trumped-up B.S. charge to me.

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8 responses to “The sad, strange tale of Alvin Green gets sadder and stranger”

  1. Jared Avatar
    Jared

    If anyone cares to listen.. the local charlotte talk station WBT has several interviews with Mr. Green posted separately on their site. The one from the 9-12 show today was pretty amusing.

  2. love ya Avatar
    love ya

    please go away

  3. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Thanks for the thought, but TPM has the back story here on the legal quagmire of the law here. Real nicely 19th C. & Jim Crow-ish & very SC… JMP

  4. Sara Avatar
    Sara

    I think there are Supreme Court cases that say words can’t be obscene, only pictures or video. So, no.

  5. Sara Avatar
    Sara

    That reminds me, we need an open thread…

  6. Jen B. Avatar
    Jen B.

    “Court records show a grand jury in Richland County handed down the indictment Friday for disseminating, procuring or promoting obscenity. The Democratic nominee was also indicted on a misdemeanor charge of communicating obscene materials to a person without consent.”

    Promoting obscenity is a felony? Really? FUCK THAT. Is that promoting obscenity?

  7. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    BTW? What the press in SC Won’t be talking about. Budget plans that never add up, either locally in SC: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/08/12/haley-jobs-plan/

    Or nationally by the ‘well respected’ flimflam man Cong. Paul Ryan (R, Con-man) here as noted by Krugman @ the NYT: krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/how-to-spot-a-flimflammer/

    And there’s a myriad of reasons for why this is so. Innumeracy of the punditocracy is only one. JMP

  8. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Yep, and it’s why it’s almost completely implausible that he did this alone or that there was really no one scheming to get him on the ballot, after the charges were filed. I say someone in the Courthouse/Jail complex got to him and told him to file & the ‘rest would be taken care of’. ‘Sit tight, keep quiet and we’ll get it done’. The Party here really should have disqualified him for any number of reasons, but this scenario being among the most damaging. Almost all of the air in SC will be taken up with speculation on this one case, & one race & the inevitable ‘reactions’ of everyone & sundry to it. It’s an irresistible media cat nip story, and they’ll be talking about little else until election day. And it’ll cause a drop off in Dem voting across the board. One of the most successful political dirty tricks of modern times, and they’re likely congratulating themselves & laughing it up about it all & the inevitable fall out. The charges are pretty bogus, but they were meant to be. But in SC? They might have hanged you for a similar offense not too long ago too. JMP

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