Huffman v. United States

259 A.2d 342, 1969 D.C. App. LEXIS 348
CourtDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 2, 1969
Docket4924, 4925
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 259 A.2d 342 (Huffman v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Huffman v. United States, 259 A.2d 342, 1969 D.C. App. LEXIS 348 (D.C. 1969).

Opinion

HOOD, Chief Judge:

Appellant Huffman was convicted on a charge of knowingly selling certain obscene, indecent and filthy articles; and he was convicted on two charges, and appellant Pryba on one charge, of knowingly possessing certain obscene, indecent and filthy articles with intent to disseminate. 1 The articles, magazines published in Denmark and entitled “Girls” and “Modern Girls”, were kept and sold in an establishment known as the Village Book Store. Pryba was president of the corporation operating the store, and Huffman was an employee of the store.

At the outset we reject as without merit the claims of the appellants relating to the validity of the issuance and execution of the search warrant, and the claim of lack of a fair trial. We turn to those claims of error which we feel require discussion, though not necessarily in the order presented in the brief.

Each of the so-called magazines in question consisted of a collection of photographs of two females engaged in undressing, caressing, fondling and embracing the other. In many of the photographs the subjects were nude or wearing only certain articles of clothing, such as stockings, which served to accentuate the nakedness of the *344 body. The postures of the subjects in many of the pictures were such as to expose and bring into focus the entire pubic area. The foregoing is not intended to be a graphic and complete description of the photographs. Rarely will a verbal description of a photograph accurately depict it. In our opinion, anyone viewing the photographs would conclude that they were intended to and did portray homosexual activities between two females.

One of appellants’ main arguments is that the trial court was in error in not admitting in evidence twenty-six tendered exhibits. These exhibits consisted of eleven different copies of “Cover Girl”, eleven different copies of “Exciting”, one copy of “Hellenic Sun”, one copy of “International Nudist Sun”, one copy of “Review International”, and one copy of “Exclusive”. “Cover Girl”, “Exciting” and “Exclusive” contained photographs of single nude females. The others contained photographs of nude males. Appellant argues that certain of the tendered exhibits had been declared nonobscene by the Supreme Court and the others were comparable to those “cleared by the Supreme Court”. 2

The exact purpose for which these exhibits were offered is not clear, but one purpose apparently was to have them shown to the jury and have the jury told that certain of them had been declared nonobscene by the Supreme Court. We hold they were not admissible for this purpose. In the first place, neither the trial judge nor anyone else could possibly tell the jury why the Supreme Court ruled that the exhibits were nonobscene; 3 and it would certainly serve no valid purpose to permit the jury to speculate as to what would be the holding of the Supreme Court with respect to the exhibits here in issue. In the second place, there is a vast difference between photographs portraying sexual activity between two nudes and photographs of single nudes. The tendered exhibits would have had no probative weight on the issue before the jury. 4 For the same reason the tendered exhibits were not admissible as proof of contemporary community standards even if it is true as asserted by counsel at trial, that the tendered exhibits “are sold all over the United States.” The fallacy in counsel’s argument is his premise that the tendered exhibits are comparable to the material possessed and sold by appellants.

Appellants also argue that recent decisions of the Supreme Court, particularly Redrup v. State of New York, 386 U.S. 767, 87 S.Ct. 1414, 18 L.Ed.2d 515 (1966), have the effect of holding that in order to sustain a conviction in obscenity cases the prosecution must not only prove that the material meets the Roth 5 definition of obscenity but must also prove one of three additional elements. Those elements are stated in appellants’ brief to be: (1) protection of juveniles; (2) assault upon individual privacy by publication in a manner so obtrusive as to make it impossible for an unwilling individual to avoid exposure to it; and (3) pandering of the materials as described in Ginzburg v. United States, 383 U.S. 463, 86 S.Ct. 942, 16 L.Ed.2d 31 (1966). Appellants argue that, as there was no evidence here of the first two elements, it was necessary to prove pandering. We do not agree. Ginz- *345 burg held that evidence of pandering “was relevant in determining the ultimate question of obscenity” (383 U.S. at 470, 86 S.Ct. at 947) and that “in close cases evidence of pandering may be probative with respect to the nature of the material in question” (383 U.S. at 474, 86 S.Ct. at 949), but it did not hold that such evidence was essential. Justice Brennan, the author of Ginzburg, explained in “Fanny Hill” (A Book Named “John Cleland’s Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure” v. Attorney General of Com. of Mass., 383 U.S. 413, 86 S.Ct. 975, 16 L.Ed. 2d 1 (1966)) that the holding in Ginzburg was that “where the purveyor’s sole emphasis is on the sexually provocative aspects of his publications, a court could accept his evaluation at its face value” (383 U.S. at 420, 86 S.Ct. at 978).

Appellants also contend that the magazines are constitutionally protected by the First Amendment, and that their motion for a directed verdict at the close of the Government’s case should have been granted. This argument appears to be based upon the assertion that the magazines could not be classified as “hard-core pornography”. The Supreme Court has never defined hard-core pornography or obscenity, but we have today 6 adopted the definition stated by the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland in Donnenberg v. State, 1 Md. App. 591, 232 A.2d 264 (1967). Neither this court nor the trial court could rule as a matter of law that the material introduced did not come within that definition. But that question is not before us now. The case was tried and submitted to the jury under the Roth test and there was expert testimony, pro and con, that the material came within the Roth test, applying national contemporary community standards. The jury was fully instructed on the subject and no error is assigned with respect to the instructions. We hold the case was properly one for the jury.

Appellants also argue that the Government failed to prove “scienter”. The argument appears to be that the Government must prove not only that the material met the Roth test but also that appellants knew it met that test; i. e., that the appellants intentionally violated the statute. Our statute required proof that appellants had knowledge of the character and contents of the material; and.

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Bluebook (online)
259 A.2d 342, 1969 D.C. App. LEXIS 348, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/huffman-v-united-states-dc-1969.