Pumpkin Man Tests Kiddie Porn Ruling

May 17 -- A former prep school teacher jailed in New Hampshire on sex abuse and child pornography charges hopes a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling will get him a new trial.

David Cobb, also known as "Pumpkin Man," was convicted in 1996 on charges he tried to molest a 12-year-old boy while carrying a knapsack full of child pornography. He also carried with him children's underwear, a pumpkin mask, and a pay scale for "helping pumpkin" perform various sexual acts.

Cobb's lawyer says he did not technically possess kiddie porn, though. Instead, Cobb created pornographic "collages," such as children's faces from clothing catalogues pasted onto photos from adult magazines, which his lawyer says should be protected by the First Amendment.

Now, Cobb's lawyer says the Supreme Court backs him up.

In Ashcroft vs. Free Speech Coalition last month, the court struck down provisions of a 1996 federal law that made it a crime to create, distribute or possess "virtual" child pornography that used computer images or young adults rather than actual children.

In light of the Supreme Court ruling, prosecutors across the country are concerned that it will be more difficult to nab increasingly computer-savvy child pornographers, and that a flood of old cases will be revisited.

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So far, other cases have sprung up in Illinois and Oklahoma. A Round Lake Beach, Ill., man asked the state to dismiss charges of child pornography against him unless prosecutors can prove actual children are shown in the images taken from his computer.

Federal prosecutors in Tulsa reduced charges against two child pornography defendants to obscenity in light of the Supreme Court decision.

"It is a concern to prosecutors across America that that decision will be used to reopen hundreds of cases involving convictions of child pornographers," said James Backstrom, a Minnesota prosecutor who co-chairs the National District Attorneys Association's juvenile justice center. "We have grave concerns about the status of the law in this area."