State v. Conforti

688 So. 2d 350, 1997 WL 4632
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJanuary 8, 1997
Docket95-0299, 95-1299
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 688 So. 2d 350 (State v. Conforti) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Conforti, 688 So. 2d 350, 1997 WL 4632 (Fla. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

688 So.2d 350 (1997)

STATE of Florida, Appellant,
v.
Marianne CONFORTI and Kathleen Urbano, Appellees.

Nos. 95-0299, 95-1299.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

January 8, 1997.
Rehearing, Rehearing, and Certification of Questions Denied February 11, 1997.

*352 Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, John Tiedemann, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach; Michael Satz, State Attorney, and J. Scott Raft, Assistant State Attorney, Fort Lauderdale, for appellant.

Daniel R. Aaronson of Benjamin & Aaronson, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for appellees.

Rehearing, Rehearing En Banc, and Certification of Questions Denied February 11, 1997.

GROSS, Judge.

The State appeals from a county court order dismissing lewdness charges against appellees on the basis that section 796.07(1)(b), Florida Statutes (1991), which defines "lewdness" as "any indecent or obscene act," is unconstitutional under various provisions of the state and federal constitutions. *353 We have jurisdiction pursuant to section 26.012(1), Florida Statutes (1995).[1]State v. Block, 428 So.2d 782, 783 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983); Fla.R.App.P. 9.030(b)(1)(A).[2]

Studio XXX is a business open to the public, age 18 and older. For a customer to go beyond the front desk, Studio XXX requires payment for a specific entertainment package. On May 27, 1993, an undercover police officer entered Studio XXX and paid $80.00 for a "two female entertainment package." The officer was escorted to a private room. He went in and the door was closed behind him. Two women, appellees Conforti and Urbano, entered the room from behind a partition. One of them told the officer to leave a tip and "get comfortable." He placed $120.00 on a table and stripped to his underwear. Appellees danced erotically to music for approximately thirty minutes. For five minutes during the performance, the dancers masturbated and performed cunnilingus on each other. The sex acts were performed rhythmically, in conjunction with the music, as part of the performance. The dancers contended that they attempted to communicate the message of eroticism. The officer testified that he, in fact, received the message.

Both women were arrested and charged with engaging in lewd acts in violation of section 796.07(3), Florida Statutes (1991).[3] Chapter 796 is entitled "Prostitution." Section 796.07(3)(a), Florida Statutes (1991), provides that it is unlawful "[t]o offer to commit, or to commit, or to engage in, prostitution, lewdness, or assignation." "Lewdness" is defined by section 796.07(1)(b) as "any indecent or obscene act."

On the facts set forth above, and pursuant to motions filed by appellees, the court entered two identical orders declaring section 796.07(1)(b) to be unconstitutional and dismissing the charges against both appellees. The cases were consolidated on appeal.

I. FIRST AMENDMENT

On First Amendment grounds, the trial court based its ruling on Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 93 S.Ct. 2607, 37 L.Ed.2d 419 (1973), and Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc., 501 U.S. 560, 111 S.Ct. 2456, 115 L.Ed.2d 504 (1991). The court reasoned that section 796.07(1)(b) was unconstitutional as applied to the facts of this case because the offensive sexual conduct was part of a nude dance, which under Barnes is expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment. Applying Miller, the court held the statute to be unconstitutional on its face, since its definition of lewdness did "not contemplate or allow for" a situation where an obscene act was only a small part of a larger performance or mode of expression. The trial court interpreted Miller to hold that "there can no longer be an obscene act when that act is not standing alone," but is only a small part of "a larger performance or mode of expression."

Because the lewd conduct at issue in this case is not protected by the First Amendment, we reverse this portion of the trial court's order.

The Supreme Court has extended the First Amendment protection of speech beyond verbal communications to include expressive conduct. Spence v. Washington, 418 U.S. 405, 410-11, 94 S.Ct. 2727, 2730, 41 L.Ed.2d 842 (1974). If a statute restricts activity which can be characterized as expressive conduct, then the Court has evolved two distinct approaches for resolving First Amendment claims. Laurence H. Tribe, American Constitutional Law § 12-2, at 789-94 (2d ed.1988). First, where a statute *354 regulates conduct because of the message expressed, the law is deemed "content-based" and is subject to strict judicial scrutiny. James H. Taylor, Comment, Constitutional Law: Nude Dancing's Marginal Status Under the First Amendment, 44 Fla. L.Rev. 141, 142 (1992). This means that a court will strike down the regulation as unconstitutional unless the

government shows that the message being suppressed poses a "clear and present danger," constitutes a defamatory falsehood, or otherwise falls on the unprotected side of one of the lines the Court has drawn to distinguish those expressive acts privileged by the First Amendment from those open to government regulation with only minimal due process scrutiny.

Tribe, supra, § 12-2, at 791-92. If a statute does not restrict conduct because of the message it expresses, if it is aimed at the "noncommunicative impact of an act," then the law is "content neutral." Id. at 792; Taylor, supra, at 142. A content-neutral statute is "constitutional, even as applied to expressive conduct, so long as it does not unduly constrict the flow of information and ideas." Tribe, supra, § 12-2 at 792. To determine the constitutionality of a content-neutral statute, a court must weigh, on a case by case basis, the value of freedom of expression against the government's interest in regulating the conduct at issue. The Supreme Court formulated the test to analyze content-neutral regulations in United States v. O'Brien, 391 U.S. 367, 88 S.Ct. 1673, 20 L.Ed.2d 672 (1968). Under the O'Brien test a regulation restricting expressive conduct withstands First Amendment scrutiny if 1) it is within the constitutional power of the government; 2) it furthers an important or substantial government interest; 3) the governmental interest is unrelated to the suppression of free expression; and 4) the incidental restriction on expressive conduct is no greater than is necessary to further the governmental interest. Id. at 377, 88 S.Ct. at 1679.

In Barnes, the issue before the court was whether Indiana's public indecency statute, which required that dancers wear "pasties" and "G-strings," impermissibly infringed upon the First Amendment rights of both businesses which sought to present, and dancers who desired to perform, totally nude dancing as entertainment. Writing for a plurality of the court, Chief Justice Rehnquist first focused on whether nude dancing was expressive conduct, the finding that would trigger First Amendment analysis. Acknowledging dicta in previous cases, the plurality concluded

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688 So. 2d 350, 1997 WL 4632, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-conforti-fladistctapp-1997.