Mrs. Robinson started using her Web site to solicit money for legal bills. The CBS program 48 Hours recently profiled her case, portraying Polk County with footage of cows mooing in fields. That may have complicated matters. The Robinsons' lawyers say the prosecutors got mad and backed out of the deal. They say so in a federal lawsuit filed May 19 against State Attorney Jerry Hill, the chief prosecutor for Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties.
Prosecutors beg to differ.
I'm sure we did not agree to drop the charges. The legal fight continues next month. For something to be considered obscene, it must offend community standards. Every case about obscenity in cyberspace is going to be a test case until the courts figure that out. Deborah Pierce is a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that advocates free expression on the Internet.