Appeals court won’t hear Richmond obscenity case

A federal appeals court has refused to reconsider the obscenity convictions of a Richmond man who discussed his fantasies about child sexual conduct in e-mails.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Dwight Whorley's rehearing in a 10-1 decision yesterday.

The dissenter, Judge Roger Gregory, said the e-mails contained no pictures. He said the Supreme Court has never come close to denying First Amendment protections for private fantasies.

But the majority said written or oral descriptions of certain conduct can be obscene.

Whorley is serving 20 years in prison on 74 child pornography and obscenity counts, including the 20 counts involving e-mails. He was the first person in the country convicted under a 2003 law against cartoons depicting child sex.

-- The Associated Press