Robin Sharpe's acquittal for child porn possession has begun a two-day appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada. The Canadian Broadcasting Company calls the case "one of the most emotionally charged and divisive criminal cases in years."
The case began in 1995 when Sharpe, 66, was arrested after police and customs seized photographs of naked boys and collections of "lewd" short stories he wrote, the CBC says. But two British Columbia courts struck down a portion of the law banning possession of child porn after the Vancouver man challenged the law, the CBC continues.
The judges then called it "an unreasonable limit on freedom of expression," the network says. The rulings triggered a public uproar and a petition demanding police continue enforcing the law; the CBC says the petition had 100,000 names on it.
The federal Canadian government is joined by Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario in defending the law, the CBC says. But civil liberties groups will argue the law as it stands is too broad, the network continues, and that criminal charges should be brought only against anyone abusing children to make child porn.
Canadians Against Violence leader Priscilla DeVilliers said to the court child porn is used as a tool to lure children to sex and make them think sex with adults is all right, the CBC says. Sharpe's attorney, Richard Peck, testified an individual should not be banned from recording his private thoughts, the network says.
