People v. Mazzone

368 N.E.2d 207, 52 Ill. App. 3d 859, 10 Ill. Dec. 721, 1977 Ill. App. LEXIS 3387
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 13, 1977
DocketNo. 76-31
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 368 N.E.2d 207 (People v. Mazzone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Mazzone, 368 N.E.2d 207, 52 Ill. App. 3d 859, 10 Ill. Dec. 721, 1977 Ill. App. LEXIS 3387 (Ill. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinions

Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE ALLOY

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant Lockport Theatre Corporation, proprietor of Roxy Theatre in Lockport, Illinois, and defendant Frank Mazzone, president of Lockport Theatre Corporation, were found guilty of obscenity, in a jury trial, for violation of section 11 — 20 of the Criminal Code of 1961 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 38, par. 11—20), based on the exhibition at the theater on March 3,1975, for public patronage, of a motion picture called “Lollipops for Judy.” The trial court entered the judgment of guilt on the jury’s verdict and assessed a *500 fine against defendant Mazzone and a *1,000 fine against Lockport Theatre Corporation.

During the course of this appeal, defendants filed a motion for summary reversal on the assertion that the Illinois statute upon which they have been convicted is unconstitutional. It was also asserted in such motion that the United States Supreme Court had granted certiorari in the case of Ward v. Illinois, in an appeal from People v. Ward (1976), 63 Ill. 2d 437, and that the issue of unconstitutionality is based upon the contention that the statute involved was vague, indefinite, overbroad, and uncertain on its face and was thereby being tested as to its constitutionality. At the suggestion of the appellants, as well as the State, this court has awaited a determination of the United States Supreme Court in the Ward v. Illinois case referred to. That case has now been decided and released as a decision of the United States Supreme Court in Ward v. Illinois (1977),_U.S__, 52 L. Ed. 2d 738, 97 S. Ct. 2085. (We will discuss the Ward v. Illinois case later in this opinion.)

On appeal defendants also argue that (1) the trial court was in error in allowing, over objection of defense counsel, the comment by the prosecutor in closing argument on the effect of the movie “Lollipops for Judy” on a person who has sexual fantasies, sexual hangups, or has been in a psychiatric hospital; (2) that the trial court erred in refusing to admit into evidence other movies adjudged not obscene in Illinois, as evidence of contemporary community standards; (3) that the trial court erred in refusing to allow defense counsel to cross-examine an expert regarding the report of “The President’s Commission on Obscenity and Pornography”; (4) that the trial court erred in refusing to admit evidence pertaining to other movies on the same bill of fare as “Lollipops for Judy” to show material “taken as a whole”; (5) that the trial court erred in allowing, over defense counsel’s objection and after the close of the case in chief for the defense, the release of the subject film from evidence for a special showing to the State’s expert witness; (6) that the trial court committed error in making, in the presence of the jury, a statement that John Wayne has never been in an “adult” film; (7) that the trial court erred in refusing to allow certain defense witnesses to testify regarding the meaning of “prurient interests”; and (8) that the trial court was in error in refusing to give an instruction requiring the jury to return a verdict of not guilty if it found that the subject material was “not utterly without redeeming social value.”

The defendants had filed in this court a motion to strike certain portions of the State’s brief, which motion was taken for consideration with the appeal. The contention was that the State had failed to file a designation of additional excerpts of record, and this court should not consider those matters referred to in the State’s brief which are not within defendant’s designation of excerpts of record.

Illinois Supreme Court Rule 342(a) (58 Ill. 2d R.342(a)) states in part:

“The appellee shall file a designation of any additional excerpts from the record on appeal that he deems it essential for the judges of the reviewing court to read, together with proof of service thereof * *

In Rule 342(g) of the Supreme Court Rules (58 Ill. 2d R.342(g)), it is stated as follows:

“(g) Entire Record Available. The entire record on appeal, whether or not contained in the excerpts from record or abstract, is available to the reviewing court for examination or reference. Omission of any relevant portion of the record from the excerpts from record or abstract shall not prejudice a party unless the reviewing court finds that there has been no good-faith effort to comply with this rule.”

In the practice notes to Rule 342 (Ill. Ann. Stat., ch. 110A, par. 342, Historical and Practice Notes, at 171-72 (Smith-Hurd 1976)), it is stated that since the entire record remains available to both court and counsel (Rule 342(g)), and since it is not necessary to require an additional abstract or excerpts to communicate to the court differences concerning the contents of the abstract or excerpts, the elimination of that requirement is consistent with the principle that it is not the duty of a successful litigant to correct deficiencies in appellant’s abstract or excerpts. The responsibility for that obligation never shifts to the appellee. Since it is clear that this court has access to the entire record for the purpose of supporting the trial court judgment in this case, we deny the motion to strike heretofore filed herein by the appellant. This principle of supporting the trial court judgment by reference to the record has sometimes been expressed by the statement that the court of review will not search the record to reverse but will search the record to affirm.

It appears from the record that defendant Frank Mazzone is the president of the defendant Lockport Theatre Corporation (hereinafter called “Lockport”) which operated the Roxy Theatre in Lockport, Illinois. On March 3, 1975, the Roxy Theatre was exhibiting a so-called “adult” motion picture program consisting of the movies “French Blue” and “Lollipops for Judy,” along with a short “adult” cartoon. On that evening, officers of the Lockport, Illinois police department, along with an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, executed a search warrant in the theater and confiscated the film “Lollipops for Judy.” At that time, the projectionist and the manager, who were present at the theater, were arrested. On April 10, 1975, a Will County grand jury returned an indictment charging the projectionist, the manager, defendant Mazzone and defendant Lockport Theatre Corp. with the offense of obscenity as indicated above.

This case has been tried twice by a jury. When the first jury became deadlocked, a mistrial was declared. The jury for the second trial was selected on October 14, 1975. Prior to the commencement of the second trial, a motion to dismiss the projectionist was allowed by the trial court.

At the trial, the State produced an officer of the Lockport Police Department who testified that he saw the films “Lollipops for Judy” and “French Blue” at the Roxy Theatre. Subsequently, “Lollipops” was shown to the jury in the presence of the trial judge. After the film was shown, a Lockport police officer testified that he had previously viewed the film, and that he had on that occasion counted 18 acts of sexual intercourse depicted on the screen, 25 acts of fellatio, 10 acts of cunnilingus, 1 act of masturbation and 8 demonstrated ejaculations. The officer testified that these acts alone comprised 41 minutes and 18 seconds of the film which lasted for the total of about 1 hour.

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Related

People v. Hanserd
483 N.E.2d 1321 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1985)
People v. Spataro
384 N.E.2d 553 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1978)
People v. Mazzone
383 N.E.2d 947 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1978)

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Bluebook (online)
368 N.E.2d 207, 52 Ill. App. 3d 859, 10 Ill. Dec. 721, 1977 Ill. App. LEXIS 3387, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-mazzone-illappct-1977.