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B&N Hit with Smut Charge in Tenn.
-- 12/1/97
A Tennessee county grand jury has indicted the Barnes &Noble bookstore chain for violation of state obscenity statutes for selling three books that contain nude photographs of children. The bookselling chain received a summons to appear in Williamson County, Tenn., criminal court December 1.The titles in question are two books of photographs by Jock Sturges, Radiant Identities and The Last Days of Summer, and Days of Innocence by David Hamilton. Sturges's works have been a matter of controversy in the past. In 1991 a federal grand jury refused to indict him after a 17-month investigation.
In a prepared statement, B&N said that the charges were without merit and that the company intended to plead not guilty to the charges. "The titles in question are protected by the First Amendment....We ask that our customers respect our right to bring to the American public the widest selection of titles and ideas."
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