Staunton, Virginia [Roanoke.com]- Staunton Prosecutor Raymond Robertson is wasting time and taxpayers’ money pursuing obscenity charges against an adult video store.

Obscenity cases are notoriously difficult to prosecute. Landmark court cases have made the definition of obscenity exceptionally — and appropriately — narrow.

To be considered criminally obscene, material must meet several tests, including a lack of any “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”

In addition, it must be found to violate contemporary community standards.

The best approach, then, to the opening of After Hours Video in Staunton would have been to leave it alone. If it manages to stay in business, then it obviously isn’t violating community standards.

The owner of After Hours sounds ready for a fight. Rick Krial told The (Staunton) Daily News-Leader that he had canvassed local video stores before opening his store, and several sold or rented the type of adult videos he features.

“This is selective prosecution,” Krial told The News-Leader.

Communities that wish to regulate where adult businesses locate have several tools at their disposal that pass constitutional muster.

Zoning regulations limiting the location of such businesses — either clustered together or scattered to avoid creation of an “adult” district — have been consistently upheld by the courts.

Some citizens of Staunton, including Robertson, may find Krial’s business distasteful. But it is a legal business. The material he offers is protected by the First Amendment.

And the merchandise he sells apparently has found a market in Staunton.

Krial, who owns a dozen such businesses in Virginia and Maryland, doesn’t seem inclined to just close up shop and run away.

Pursuing this unwise prosecution will only consume resources better spent fighting real crime and prosecuting genuine criminals.