Georgia man who texted photo of his tattooed genitals wins appeal on Monday

CHEROKEE COUNTY , Ga., Feb. 25 (UPI) -- The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a man who allegedly sexted an unwanted picture of his tattooed penis to a Cherokee County woman.

Charles Leo Warren III won his appeal after the court agreed that Georgia’s state code is "not applicable to electronic text messaging." Warren could have faced up to three years in prison.

The tattoo on Warren’s penis reportedly reads, "STRONG E nuf 4 A MAN BUT Made 4 A WOMAN."

Georgia obscenity laws require that potentially offensive material needs to be accompanied by a notice written in at "eight-point boldface type.”

The notice, according to Official Code 16-12-81, would read: “Notice -- The material contained herein depicts nudity or sexual conduct. If the viewing of such material could be offensive to the addressee, this container should not be opened but returned to the sender."

Judge Hugh Thompson ruled that the sext was exempt from the Georgia code because “that form of communication did not exist when 16-12-81 was enacted in 1970.”

"The specific prohibition is clearly aimed at tangible material that is delivered in a tangible manner... and because appellant did not send anything through the mail, he did not violate this prohibition," according to the opinion.

The court released its decision on Monday after hearing the case back in November. Warren was arrested in October 2012 after he texted the unsolicited photo to a woman and she went to police.

[Ledger-Enquirer] [Supreme Court of Georgia]