due to the illness of presiding Judge Larry Salmon. Mistrial Opening statements in the new trial began on November 5, 2007, but quickly resulted in a mistrial. Prior to the opening statements, the defense requested that the judge bar prosecutors from commenting on Lee's previous conviction in 1994. However, the prosecution noted in opening statements that Lee told deputies during the 2004 incident he had "been through this before and beat it". The district attorney's office planned to bring the case back to Floyd Superior Court the following year. At this point, the CBLDF had spent over $80,000 on Lee's defense. Case dismissed On Friday, 18 April 2008, it was announced in author Neil Gaiman's blog that the case had been dismissed. Effects of the case The charges against Lee have unnerved many shop owners who are concerned about distributing materials that could result in similar charges. One store owner in Georgia stated that "We are a smaller community, very similar to the community that Gordon is in. We will special order [controversial comic Lost Girls] for anybody, but we will not have it out on display." Later life and death Lee entered the news for unrelated reasons when he chased two women who have since been charged with stealing two puzzles based on the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas from his store. In an attempt to stop the women, Lee jumped on the hood of their car, and was thrown off, unhurt, after riding on the hood for a block. The women were later charged with shoplifting, and the driver was charged with aggravated assault. Lee died on the afternoon of January 13, 2013, from complications stemming from a series of strokes. He was 54 years old. References External links Gordon Lee's MySpace page. The home page for Legends, Lee's comic store. 1958 births 2013 deaths American bloggers American victims of crime Comics people People from Rome, Georgia Businesspeople from Georgia (U.S. state) 20th-century American businesspeople