State v. A Motion Picture Entitled "The Bet"

547 P.2d 760, 219 Kan. 64, 1976 Kan. LEXIS 338
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedMarch 6, 1976
DocketNo. 47,817
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 547 P.2d 760 (State v. A Motion Picture Entitled "The Bet") is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. A Motion Picture Entitled "The Bet", 547 P.2d 760, 219 Kan. 64, 1976 Kan. LEXIS 338 (kan 1976).

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Fbomme, J.:

Two actions were brought by the state of Kansas on the relation of the district attorney to enjoin the public showing of obscene films, to abate the films and other personal property used in promoting obscenity, to obtain an order padlocking the theater where the films had been exhibited, and to allow a reasonable attorney fee and court costs. The first action was based on the public showing of four films, viz., “The Bet”, “Flossie”, “The King”, and “The Fashion Jungle”. The second action concerned the public showing of two films, viz., “The Sexual Therapist” and “Three Pennies”. The actions were consolidated by 'agreement) of the parties.

The actions were filed under the provisions of K. S. A. 22-3901, et seq., which provides for the abatement of common nuisances. K. S. A. 22-3901 provides:

“The following unlawful activities and the use of real and personal property in maintaining and carrying on such activities are hereby declared to be common nuisances:
“(a) Commercial gambling;
“(b) Dealing in gambling devices;
“(c) Possession of gambling devices;
“(d) Promoting obscenity;
“(e) Promoting prostitution;
[66]*66“(f) Habitually promoting prostitution;
“(g) Violations of any law regulating narcotic or dangerous drugs.
“Any real property used as a place where any such activities are carried on or permitted to be carried on and any effects, equipment, paraphernalia or other personal property designed for and used on such premises in connection with such unlawful activities are subject to injunction and abatement as in this article provided.”

The procedure outlined in K. S. A. 22-3902 was followed and, after an adversary judicial hearing in which the films were viewed by the court, the four films included in the first action were ordered seized and held as evidence. It was found that there was probable cause to believe the films were obscene and should be held as evidence. The two films included in the second cause of action were no longer in the possession of the theater owners and were not seized or viewed. No request was made by counsel for defendants to make copies of the films or withdraw the four films for the purpose of exhibition pending final decision on the merits. (See Heller v. New York, 413 U. S. 483, 37 L. Ed. 2d 745, 93 S. Ct. 2789.)

The instant action was tried to the court. At the trial defendants offered no evidence and advanced no arguments on the issue of obscenity vel non. The defense rested on a motion for involuntary dismissal which challenged the validity of the state statute defining obscene material (K. S. A. 21-4301 [2] [a] and [3]) on stated constitutional grounds.

After hearing the evidence introduced by the state, which included a showing of the four films and oral testimony concerning “The Sexual Therapist” and “Three Pennies”, the court found that all six films were obscene within the broader definition of K. S. A. 21-4301 and as construed more narrowly to conform to the constitutional requirements explicated in Miller v. California, 413 U. S. 15, 37 L. Ed. 2d 419, 93 S. Ct. 2607, reh. den. 414 U. S. 881, 38 L. Ed. 2d 128, 94 S. Ct. 26.

The trial court entered judgment permanently enjoining any future showing and exhibition of these six films in Kansas and ordered Las Vegas Cinema, Inc., d/b/a Vegas Cinema to pay all costs of the action. The court refused to abate the equipment and personal property used in the exhibition of films in the theater. It refused to1 grant a padlock order on the theater property. It refused to order defendant to pay a reasonable attorney fee to the district attorney and it ordered the four films (seized as evidence) be returned to Las Vegas Cinema, Inc.

The state has appealed from those portions of the court’s order [67]*67which denied the abatement of equipment and personal property, which refused to grant the padlock order, which refused to order destruction of the films, and which denied allowance of attorney fees to the district attorney. The defendant has cross-appealed from those portions of the court’s order which permanently enjoined the exhibition of the films in Kansas and which construed K. S. A. 21-4301 (2) (a) and (3) as limited by the constitutional standards for obscene materials set forth in Miller v. California, supra.

In order to place the questions raised by this appeal and cross-appeal in proper perspective it might be well to consider some of the history of the decisions in this general area. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press. This amendment was made applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment which specifies that no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the United States. The United States Supreme Court in a plethora of decisions has held that First Amendment rights apply to practically all forms of the written and spoken word including performances, sound communications and graphic materials. However, a majority of the members of that court hold that obscene materials do not enjoy the protection of First Amendment rights. (Roth v. United States, 354 U. S. 476, 1 L. Ed. 2d 1498, 77 S. Ct. 1304.) Therefore the states retain the right to prohibit the public display of obscene materials. The difficulty in this area comes from an inability of the states to lay down definitive standards to determine what is obscenity which will meet the changing standards of the United States Supreme Court.

Kansas has unsuccessfully attempted to provide censorship for obscene films which are to be shown publicly by the motion picture industry. A censorship statute passed by the legislature in Kansas was struck down by the high court. (See Holmby Productions, Inc. v. Vaughn, 177 Kan. 728, 282 P. 2d 412, rev. 350 U. S. 870, 100 L. Ed. 770, 76 S. Ct. 117.) Efforts to provide for the seizure and destruction of publications deemed to be obscene and immoral have met similar fates. (See State v. A Quantity of Copies of Books, 191 Kan. 13, 379 P. 2d 254, rev. 378 U. S. 205, 12 L. Ed. 2d 809, 84 S. Ct. 1723; and State, ex rel., v. A Quantity of Copies of Books, 197 Kan. 306, 416 P. 2d 703, reversed without opinion 388 U. S. 452, 18 L. Ed. 2d 1314, 87 S. Ct. 2104.)

[68]*68Much of -the difficulty in this area comes from the vacillation of the high court in this sensitive area where First Amendment rights are considered in relation to the control of obscenity. This is clearly reflected in the various decisions of the United States Supreme Court.

In 1957, the high court handed down Roth v. United States, supra. In

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547 P.2d 760, 219 Kan. 64, 1976 Kan. LEXIS 338, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-a-motion-picture-entitled-the-bet-kan-1976.