Appeals Court Dismisses Ohio Man's Guilty Plea in Obscenity Case Involving Fictitious Stories COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A state appeals court on Thursday dismissed the guilty plea of a man imprisoned for writing fictitious stories of child torture and molestation. Lawyers specializing in the First Amendment believe Brian Dalton was the first person in the United States successfully prosecuted for child pornography that involved fictional writings, not images. The 10th Ohio District Court of Appeals in Columbus ruled that Dalton received ineffective legal assistance. Dalton had argued that his former lawyer didn't inform him of the legal implications of a guilty plea or ask for an immediate dismissal on First Amendment grounds. The 3-0 ruling sends the case back to Franklin County Common Pleas Court. Dalton could still be tried but prosecutors have not said whether they would seek to do so. Ray Vasvari, the American Civil Liberties Union's state legal director in Cleveland, called the decision an "important recognition for not only freedom of speech but freedom of thought." Dalton, 24, of Columbus, pleaded guilty in July 2001 to pandering obscenity involving a minor, which falls under Ohio's pornography law. He later asked to withdraw the plea so he could challenge the constitutionality of the law, but Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Nodine Miller refused. ACLU attorneys then appealed. Miller had sentenced Dalton to seven years, plus 4 1/2 years from a 1998 child pornography conviction on the grounds he violated probation by possessing the journal. The 14-page journal contained stories about three children - ages 10 and 11 - being caged in a basement, molested and tortured. Prosecutors acknowledged the stories were pure fiction. The journal was found by Dalton's probation officer during a routine search of his home. Dalton was charged under Ohio's 1989 child porn law, which bans possession of obscene material involving children. He was not charged under Ohio's obscenity law, which requires dissemination and not just possession. The appeals court found that Dalton's defense attorney, Isabella Dixon, misunderstood the two charges against her client. Both charges were based on the journal and involved fictitious events, the court found. Dixon, it said, had erroneously believed one of the charges was based on a letter Dalton wrote describing sexual molestation of a young cousin, a real person. "This misunderstanding was significant because of the important differences in the constitutional protections afforded the private possession of pornographic depictions of real children and similar depictions of fictional children," Judge William Klatt said, writing for the majority. A message was left with Dixon seeking comment. http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAQA2U49ID.html