People v. Thomas

346 N.E.2d 190, 37 Ill. App. 3d 320, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 2181
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided April 7, 1976·No. 74-433·Published·Cited by 17 cases

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE BARRY

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, proprietor of Del Van Theater at Delavan, was found guilty by a jury of obscenity in violation of section 11 — 20 of the Criminal Code of 1961 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38,11 — 20) for exhibiting at his theater on November 2, 1973, for public patronage, the motion picture “Deep Throat.” After his post-trial motion was denied, judgment was entered upon the verdict and defendant was sentenced to a term of imprisonment at the county jail for 60 days and to pay a fine of $1,000.

The first error defendant assigns on appeal is that the court erred in refusing to give his instruction 47. That instruction, in defining the offense, charged that the jury must find that the State’s proof establishes three elements: (a) that the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals to a prurient interest in sex; (b) that the material is patently offensive because it affronts contemporary community standards relating to the description or representation of sexual matters; and (c) that the material is utterly without redeeming social value. The record indicates that the people’s instruction no. 14a, given by the court over defendant’s objection, wholly failed to inform the jury that foregoing proposition (c) was an element of the offense charged and that no other given instruction supplied that omission.

The essential elements of the offense of obscenity were previously discussed by this court in a case involving a prosecution of this same defendant for violation of a city ordinance. (City of Delavan v. Thomas, 31 Ill. App. 3d 630, 334 N.E.2d 190 (3rd Dist. 1975).) In that opinion, Mr. Justice Stengel, after discussion of the holdings in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 37 L. Ed. 2d 419, 93 S. Ct. 2607 (1973), and the subsequent decisions in People v. Ridens, 59 Ill. 2d 362, 321 N.E.2d 264 (1974), and People v. Gould, 60 Ill. 2d 159, 324 N.E.2d 412 (1975), concluded that the elements of the offense in Illinois must include the requirement that the prosecution prove the subject material to be utterly without redeeming social value. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, §11 — 20(c).) We reconfirm that rule here, and conclude that the failure of the court to so instruct the jury was reversible error.

The State argues that no error was made in failing to include foregoing proposition (c) in the instructions to the jury since this basic social value issue presents a question of law for the court to decide and not one of fact for the jury. Reference is made to the committee notes following IPI Criminal Instruction no. 9.57 to support this proposition. It is then argued that the court here did make a pretrial determination that “Deep Throat” was in fact obscene and that such determination implies that it decided the issue of basic social value as a matter of law. We reject this contention.

The record shows that prior to commencement of these proceedings, the State filed a petition for adversary hearing in October 1973 against defendant to show cause why the public exhibition of the film “Deep Throat” does not constitute probable cause for the offense of obscenity, and why the film should not be impounded as evidence. The court set a date for viewing “Deep Throat” to determine whether its exhibition constituted probable cause for the offense of obscenity and a subpoena duces tecum issued to defendant on October 24, 1973, to produce the film for that purpose. A motion to quash the subpoena was denied, and following a subsequent hearing at which the court viewed the film, an order was entered on November 2, 1973, finding the film obscene and ordering.it held pending further proceedings, with leave given the State to file an information charging obscenity.

This foregoing procedure by the State was a modification of the provisions of section 108 — 12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, §108 — 12). That statute provides for a pretrial hearing within ten days after a seizure for a determination of whether the material seized is constitutionally protected by the first amendment. The modification whereby a hearing is held prior to any seizure has been approved as providing to defendants more protection than section 108 — 12 confers. (People v. Brown, 27 Ill. App. 3d 891, 326 N.E.2d 568 (2d Dist. 1975).) The purpose of both procedures is to satisfy constitutional requirements of the fourth amendment prohibiting, as unreasonable, seizures which constitute a prior restraint of liberties arguably guaranteed by the first amendment to the United States Constitution. “The decision of the court upon * * * [any such preliminary proceeding is 0 ° ° not * * * admissible as evidence in any other proceeding nor shall it be res judicata of any question in any other proceeding.” (Emphasis added.) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, §108 — 12.) The preliminary adjudication here was merely for purposes of determining probable cause to satisfy the requirement that no material arguably protected by the first amendment shall be the object of prior restraint or seizure except by a “constitutionally sufficient warrant” issued subsequent to a proceeding by which an impartial magistrate has had opportunity to “focus searchingly on the question of obscenity.”(Roaden v. Kentucky, 413 U.S. 496, 37 L. Ed. 2d 757, 93 S. Ct. 2796 (1973); Heller v. New York, 413 U.S. 483, 37 L. Ed. 2d 745, 93 S. Ct. 2789 (1973).) Thus the finding of the judge in a proceeding designed “to focus searchingly on the issue of obscenity,” that probable cause exists for believing that the subject material is not protected by the first amendment, and is obscene and subject to seizure, does not relieve the State of the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt, to the satisfaction of the jury, the existence of all the essential elements of the offense as construed by the courts, including that the alleged material is wholly without redeeming social value. (Houston v. Manerbino,_Colo__, 521 P. 2d 166 (1974).) “[T]he First Amendment values applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment are [then] adequately protected by the ultimate power of appellate courts to conduct an independent review of constitutional claims when necessary.” Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 25, 37 L. Ed. 2d 419, 431, 93 S. Ct. 2607, 2615, (1973); City of Chicago v. Kimmel, 31 Ill. 2d 202, 201 N.E.2d 386 (1964); see 50 Am. Jur. 2d Lewdness, Indecency, and Obscenity §42 (1970).

Defendant complains that the court erred in not properly instructing the jury as to the geographical standards they were to apply in their deliberations. Citing People v. Butler, 49 Ill. 2d 435, 275 N.E.2d 400

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People v. Thomas, 346 N.E.2d 190, 37 Ill. App. 3d 320, 1976 Ill. App. LEXIS 2181 (Ill. Ct. App. 1976).

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