Butt v. State, 2017 UT 33 (June 19, 2017)

In this appeal of denial of a post-conviction petition challenging a conviction for dealing in materials harmful to minors, the supreme court held the defendant had been deprived of effective assistance of counsel where his attorney failed to raise a First Amendment defense.  Discussing the First Amendment at length, the supreme court concluded that the drawings sent to defendant’s daughter were not obscene, because the drawings were not aimed at appealing to a prurient interest in sex of a minor.