Century Theaters, Inc. v. State

625 S.W.2d 511, 274 Ark. 484, 1981 Ark. LEXIS 1507
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedDecember 21, 1981
DocketCR 81-81
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 625 S.W.2d 511 (Century Theaters, Inc. v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Century Theaters, Inc. v. State, 625 S.W.2d 511, 274 Ark. 484, 1981 Ark. LEXIS 1507 (Ark. 1981).

Opinion

Robert H. Dudley, Justice.

This appeal is from a conviction of promoting obscene material. Ark. Stat. Ann. § 41-3503 (Repl. 1977). Appellant Century Theaters operates an establishment in Little Rock euphemistically labeled “adult” entertainment. As a part of the fare “peepshows” or short films are exhibited in a series of one-person booths. The films, of seven to ten minutes’ duration, are on a continuous reel. To view one of them the customer places a quarter in a coin slot and begins watching from wherever it happens to start, which probably is not at the beginning. On some occasions titles give the name of the film while on other occasions they will be labeled “Two men/one woman” or “One man/one woman” and at other times they have no titles.

On April 16, 1980, Detectives Howell and McGuire, members of the vice squad, went to the Century Theater to view films. They saw a number of films and thought that four were obscene. Both detectives looked at the film in booth 3 while McGuire alone viewed the films in booths 5,9 and 10. They returned on the morning of April 18 but only McGuire saw all four films. They then went before a circuit judge to obtain a search warrant. Detective McGuire, after describing the building and its location, testified that about one hour earlier, the film in booth 3 showed a female performing oral sex upon a male and penetration was shown. He testified that the film showing in booth 5 reflected two females performing oral sex, each upon the other, with actual penetration being shown. His testimony was that the film in booth 9 showed four male homosexuals engaged in sexual activity, all at the same time, with actual penetration. He testified that the film in booth 10 showed two females and one male involved in oral sex acts with actual penetration. Detective Howell testified that he saw the film in booth 3 and it showed a male and female engage first in sexual intercourse and then in oral sex with penetration being shown on both occasions. The search warrant was then issued to authorize the search of booths 3, 5,9 and 10 of the described building to seize “motion picture films depicting hardcord sexual contact including actual penetration.” The last sentence provided “The executing officers must seize only films which they have previously viewed and described in their recorded testimony.”

After obtaining the warrant the two detectives returned to appellant’s building, identified themselves to an employee, and gave him a copy of the warrant. The three of them went to the booths where the employee removed the films and handed them to the detectives. Later, they again viewed them and placed them in storage. By the time of trial Detective McGuire was deceased and Detective Howell could testify only about the one film he had seen.

The appellant questions whether (1) the testimony of probable cause was adequate, (2) the warrant was properly executed, (3) the warrant allowed seizure of protected materials and (4) a juror should have been excused for cause.

The first issue is whether probable cause was adequately shown for the issuance of the warrant. Rule 13.1 of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure Vol. 4A (Repl. 1977) sets out the requirements for the issuance of a search warrant. Section (b) is relevant to the point at issue —

The application for a search warrant shall describe with particularity the persons or places to be searched and the persons or things to be seized, and shall be supported by one (1) or more affidavits or recorded testimony under oath before a judicial officer particularly setting forth the facts and circumstances tending to show that such persons or things are in the places, or the things are in possession of the person to be searched

The constitutional issue is how the Fourth Amendment should be construed and applied when the search and seizure involves materials which are presumptively under the protection of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court of the United States in Zurcher v. Stanford Daily, 436 U.S. 547 at 564 (1978) sets out the rationale and the ruling as follows:

It is true that the struggle from which the Fourth Amendment emerged “is largely a history of conflict between the Crown and the press,” Stanford v. Texas, 379 U.S. 476, 482 (1965), and that in issuing warrants and determining the reasonableness of a search, state and federal magistrates should be aware that “unrestricted power of search and seizure could also be an instrument for stifling liberty of expression.” Marcus v. Search Warrant, 367 U.S. 717, 729 (1961). Where the materials sought to be seized may be protected by the First Amendment, the requirements of the Fourth Amendment must be applied with “scrupulous exactitude.” Standord v. Texas, supra, at 485. “A seizure reasonable as to one type of material in one setting may be unreasonable in a different setting or with respect to another kind of material.” Roaden v. Kentucky, 413 U.S. 496, 501 (1973). Hence, in Stanford v. Texas, the Court invalidated a warrant authorizing the search of a private home for all books, records, and other materials relating to the Communist Party, on the ground that whether or not the warrant would have been sufficient in other contexts, it authorized the searchers to rummage among and make judgments about books and papers and was the functional equivalent of a general warrant, one of the principal targets of the Fourth Amendment. Where presumptively protected materials are sought to be seized, the warrant requirement should be administered to leave as little as possible to the discretion or whim of the officer in the field. Similarly, where seizure is sought of allegedly obscene materials, the judgment of the arresting officer alone is insufficient to justify issuance of a search warrant or a seizure without a warrant incident to arrest. The procedure for determining probable cause must afford an opportunity for the judicial officer to “focus search - ingly on the question of obscenity.” Marcus v. Search Warrant, supra, at 732; A Quantity of Books v. Kansas, 378 U.S. 205, 210 (1964); Lee Art Theatre, Inc. v. Virginia, 392 U.S. 636, 637 (1968); Roaden v. Kentucky, supra, at 502; Heller v. New York, 413 U.S. 483, 489 (1973).

Hence, at the time the warrant was requested the judge had to “focus searchingly” on the question of whether there was probable cause to believe that a violation of the obscenity laws had occurred. However, a showing of “probable cause requires much less evidence than a finding of guilt requires . . . ” United States v. Beck, 431 F. 2d 536 at 538 (5th Cir. 1970). “In dealing with probable cause ... as the very name implies, we deal with probabilities.” Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160 at 175 (1949).

In Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15

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625 S.W.2d 511, 274 Ark. 484, 1981 Ark. LEXIS 1507, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/century-theaters-inc-v-state-ark-1981.