Texas law on children seeing porn being

challenged

AP – Crystal Buckner responds to a reporters question,

Thursday Oct. 29, 2009 in Dallas. Buckner is fighting …

By JOHN McFARLAND, Associated Press Writer John Mcfarland, Associated Press Writer

DALLAS – A 1970s-era Texas law that allows parents to show "harmful material" to their
children has come under fire after a prosecutor said he couldn't file charges against a man
accused of forcing his 8- and 9-year-old daughters to watch hardcore online pornography.

Randall County District Attorney James Farren has asked the Texas attorney general's office
to review his decision not to pursue charges in the case, which has prompted at least one
lawmaker to vow to change the state's public indecency law.

"Our hands are tied. It's not our fault. I have to follow the law," Farren said Thursday. "The
mother of the victims in this case was less than happy with this decision, which I
understand. We were less than happy with the statute."

The law apparently was meant to protect the privacy of parents who wanted to teach
children about sex education, but it states clearly that parents can't be prosecuted for
showing "harmful material" to their children.

Farren said police reported the incident to his office after one of the girls told a counselor in
June that her father made them watch adults having group sex and various other acts at his
home in Amarillo. The parents of the girls, and their 7-year-old sister, are divorced and
share custody.

The girls' mother, Crystal Buckner, wants her ex-husband to be jailed. She said she was
stunned to hear from prosecutors and police that nothing can be done.
"I said, 'Are you kidding me?' There's no way. This can't be right," said Buckner, a 30-year-
old stay-at-home mother.

The Associated Press typically does not publish the names of parents if it could identify
children who might have been abused, but Buckner is seeking publicity about the case. She
has printed out copies of the penal code, which she hands out to everyone she meets.
"I want people to know about this. I want parents to be mad and say, 'No!'" she said. "I
understand in the '70s everybody wanted the government to stay out of their homes. I
don't want to stop parents from having that right to teach sex education, but there's a big
difference and there's a line you should not cross when teaching."

The case caught the attention of state Sen. Bob Deuell, a Republican from Greenville who
said he's planning to push for a change in the law in the next legislative session in 2011.
The Texas attorney general's office said Thursday that it would be months before an
opinion's issued and declined further comment.

Farren said he thinks the law is clear and that the attorney general will agree.

"I don't think that's what the legislators intended, but it's the result," he said. "If our
interpretation is wrong, that'd be great. It's fine, we'd love to go ahead and prosecute."

Farren noted that the law does not mention intent. According to the Texas penal code
passage, "harmful material" such as pornography is considered defensible from prosecution
if "the sale, distribution, or exhibition to a minor who was accompanied by a consenting
parent, adult, or spouse."

"It just says it's a defense. Period," said Farren, who also hopes the case will force the
Legislature to revisit the issue.

As for the girls, they still go to their father's house once a month, but those visits now must
be supervised.

A call placed to the home of the girls' father, who is not charged with a crime, was not
immediately returned Thursday.