People v. Austin

257 N.W.2d 120, 76 Mich. App. 455, 1977 Mich. App. LEXIS 935
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 6, 1977
DocketDocket 25433
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 257 N.W.2d 120 (People v. Austin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Austin, 257 N.W.2d 120, 76 Mich. App. 455, 1977 Mich. App. LEXIS 935 (Mich. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinions

Bashara, J.

Defendant Joseph Varick Austin was convicted of promoting pornography, in violation of § 39-1-18.1 of the Municipal Code of the [458]*458City of Detroit. The conviction was affirmed in the Wayne County Circuit Court. This Court granted the defendant leave to appeal.

Defendant was a clerk working at the Adult News Bookstore in the City of Detroit. On March 6, 1974, Detroit Police Officer Donald Smith, working in plain clothes, purchased two magazines from the defendant. After reviewing the contents of the magazines, Officer Smith returned to the store and issued an ordinance violation ticket to defendant.

Initially, we must note that the exhibits in the present case, including the magazines in question, have been misplaced at some point in the lower court proceedings and are unavailable for review.1 Since the loss of this evidence can in no way be attributed to the defendant, this Court is powerless to do anything but vacate his conviction. Although this holding would in most cases end our discussion of the matter, we recognize the importance of several of the issues raised and extensively briefed by the parties. As the matter is properly before us, and it is likely that prosecutions under the ordinance as presently drafted will continue, we will speak to the critical issues as to the validity and interpretation of the enactment.

Defendant first questions the constitutional validity of the ordinance. Before discussing these questions it is necessary to set forth the relevant language of the ordinance.

The act was passed by the Common Council for the City of Detroit, effective January 3, 1974, presumably in response to the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Miller v Califor[459]*459nia, 413 US 15; 93 S Ct 2607; 37 L Ed 2d 419 (1973). Section 39-1-18.1 states that it is unlawful "for any person to promote pornography” if that person knows "its content and character”. Section 39-1-18(10) provides the definition for "pornography”, as used in the remainder of the ordinance:

" 'Pornography’: Any material or performance is 'pornography’ if all of the following elements are present: (A) Considered as a whole, by the average person, applying the contemporary community standards of the City of Detroit, it appeals to the prurient interest; and (B) It depicts, describes or represents in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct, as hereinafter defined; and (C) It lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”
"Sexual conduct” is defined in § 39-l-18(14)-(i6):
"(14) 'Sexual Conduct’ means: (A) masturbation; (B) sexual intercourse, whether genital-genital, oral-genital, oral-anal, or anal-genital; (C) any erotic fondling or touching of the covered or uncovered genitals, buttocks, pubic area, or any part thereof, the breasts of the female; whether the conduct described in (A) through (C) is engaged in alone or between members of the same or opposite sex, or between humans and animals or humans and inanimate objects; or (D) actual or simulated display or exhibition of the human pubic area or genitals or any part thereof, or (E) sexual excitement, as hereinafter defined; or (F) sado-masochistic abuse as hereinafter defined.
"(15) 'Sexual Excitement’ means the facial expressions, movements, utterances or other responses of a human male or female, whether alone or with others, whether clothed or not, who is in an apparent state of sexual stimulation or arousal, or experiencing the physical or sensual reactions of humans engaging in or witnessing sexual conduct.
"(16) 'Sado-Masochistic Abuse’ means flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is nude or clad in [460]*460undergarments or in a sexually revealing or bizarre costume, or the condition of such person being fettered, bound or otherwise physically restrained, in an apparent act of sexual stimulation or gratification,”

In Miller, supra, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the holding of Roth v United States, 354 US 476; 77 S Ct 1304; 1 L Ed 2d 1498 (1957), that obscene materials are not protected by the First Amendment. 413 US at 20-21. After a lengthy discussion of the various attempts of the Court to fashion appropriate standards for the definition of such unprotected, "obscene” material, the Miller Court announced a new set of guidelines:

"State statutes designed to regulate obscene materials must be carefully limited. * * * As a result, we now confine the permissible scope of such regulation to works which depict or describe sexual conduct. That conduct must be specifically defined by the applicable state law, as written or authoritatively construed. A state offense must also be limited to works which, taken as a whole, appeal to the prurient interest in sex, which portray sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and which taken as a whole, do not have serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
"The basic guidelines for the trier of fact must be: (a) whether 'the average person, applying contemporary community standards’ would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, * * * (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.” (Citations and footnote omitted.) 413 US at 23-24.

In the present case defendant attacks the ordinance in question by alleging two distinct yet related violations of the Miller guidelines. He [461]*461argues that the language of the Detroit ordinance is vague, in contradiction to standard (b) which requires that the prohibited material be "specifically defined”. Defendant also contends that the ordinance definition of "sexual conduct” is over-broad in that it reaches material not intended by the Miller Court to be beyond First Amendment protection.

Defendant’s vagueness argument is not persuasive. The Miller requirement that sexual conduct be specifically defined in a statute or ordinance is designed to provide clear and conspicuous notice of the scope of the prohibition to the sellers of sex-related material.2 The Detroit ordinance defines "sexual conduct” at length and in great detail. We find no violation of the "specifically defined” standard.3

Defendant’s challenge to the ordinance on the basis of overbreadth has considerably more substance.4 The Miller Court, while not wanting to draft legislation for the states, did set forth examples of what type of material could validly be prohibited:

"We emphasize that it is not our function to propose regulatory schemes for the States. That must await their concrete legislative efforts. It is possible, however, to give a few plain examples of what a state statute could define for regulation under part (b) of the standard announced in this opinion, supra:
"(a) Patently offensive representations or descriptions [462]*462of ultimate sexual acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated.

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Related

State v. Harrold
585 N.W.2d 532 (Nebraska Court of Appeals, 1998)
People v. Austin
257 N.W.2d 120 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1977)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
257 N.W.2d 120, 76 Mich. App. 455, 1977 Mich. App. LEXIS 935, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-austin-michctapp-1977.