Some Charges Dropped in Animal Snuff Film Case

First Amendment protections

A federal judge reduced the number of charges against a man and woman accused of making animal snuff films, finding that a new law prohibiting depictions of animal injury unconstitutionally restricts free speech.

A federal grand jury issued a seven-count indictment against Ashley Nicole Richards and Brent Justice on Nov. 28, 2012.

Among other criminal charges, Richards and Justice faced four counts of creating and one count of distributing "animal crush videos:" videos depicting bodily injury to animals.