State v. Tovar

627 P.2d 702, 128 Ariz. 551, 1980 Ariz. App. LEXIS 715
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedDecember 2, 1980
DocketNo. 1 CA-CR 3796
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 627 P.2d 702 (State v. Tovar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Tovar, 627 P.2d 702, 128 Ariz. 551, 1980 Ariz. App. LEXIS 715 (Ark. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinions

OPINION

EUBANK, Judge.

Following a jury trial, appellant was found guilty on two counts of an indictment charging him with the sale of obscene items in violation of A.R.S. § 13-532(A)(2) and (B), (now § 13-3502). The items consisted of a film entitled “SWEDISH EROTICA # 6 WET AND WILD” (Count II), and a magazine entitled “GET DOWN WITH 3” (Count III). He was acquitted of a further Count charging him with the exhibition of an obscene film. The trial judge suspended appellant’s sentence and placed him on probation for three years on condition that he serve two months’ confinement in the county jail. Appellant appeals from the judgment.

The facts are that appellant was employed as a clerk and projectionist at the Empress Theater in Phoenix for three years. The theater was owned and operated by his older brother Joseph. Joseph hired and fired all personnel and was responsible for ordering, receiving, and checking all materials displayed and sold at the theater.1 As a clerk, appellant sold films and magazines displayed in a glass display case located in the lobby to customers, and rang up the sales on a cash register. As a projectionist, he operated the projector exhibiting films for viewers in the theater. Appellant’s other duties included training new employees as clerks and projectionists. Appellant admitted that he had created and installed an obscene sign at the exit of the theater, that he enforced Joseph’s policy against admission of persons under 18 years of age, and that although he assisted Joseph in hiring clerks and projectionists, he had nothing to do with their termination or the hiring of any of the theater’s nude dancing girls. Appellant admitted that there were signs at the theater warning people of the explicit sexual nature of the materials available for their purchase and viewing.

On the evening of April 8, 1977, undercover Police Officer Graham purchased the magazine “GET DOWN WITH 3” for $10, and the film “SWEDISH EROTICA # 6 WET AND WILD” for $24.95 from appellant. He rang up Graham’s purchase on the cash register. These items constitute the two Counts and convictions that appellant is appealing.

No issue is raised that the two items appellant sold to Officer Graham were not obscene. Rather, appellant argues that he was denied due process of law by virtue of the fact that the prosecutor insinuated that minors were exposed to the materials exhibited and sold by the Empress Theater. He further argues that the prosecutor improperly attempted to impeach witnesses by asking them about acts of misconduct not supported by a conviction. Additionally, he argues that he was denied his right to be indicted by a grand jury. Finally, he urges that the Arizona obscenity statute violates the first and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution. We will discuss the issues in the order in which they are raised.

The first issue, the prosecutor’s insinuation that minors were exposed to materials sold at the theater, was discussed fully in our Memorandum Decision in State v. Joseph Tovar, 1 CA-CR 3807, filed August 19, 1980. There we eliminated all of appellant’s present complaints except for one, ruling that the trial court properly granted Joseph a new trial based on the prosecutor’s cross-examination of Joseph concerning his employment of Allen Hunsberger as a clerk. We said:

The clear implication of this cross-examination is one of impeachment. Appellee and his brother had testified that no minors were ever employed at the theater and the questions indicate that State was preparing the ground to prove on rebuttal that Allen Hunsberger was a minor [553]*553when employed by the appellee as a clerk and projectionist. Such proof was never introduced by the State but the strong inference remaining before the jury was that appellant [Joseph] had actually hired a minor as a clerk and projectionist. We agree with appellee, this constituted improper cross-examination by insinuation and was prejudicial to him under the circumstances. See State v. Hill, 109 Ariz. 93, 94-5, 505 P.2d 553, 554-5 (1973); Udall, Arizona Law of Evidence, § 45, pp. 70-71.

Appellant and Joseph were jointly indicted, tried, and convicted. Joseph was granted a new trial, while appellant’s motion for a new trial was denied. Therefore, we must first decide whether the prejudicial error attributed to Joseph’s case was also prejudicial to appellant. A similar situation arises from a trial where two or more defendants are tried jointly and one is convicted but the others are either acquitted or convicted of lesser crimes. Such results are characterized as “inconsistent” verdicts. The rule in Arizona regarding such verdicts is well stated in State v. Jordan, 105 Ariz. 250, 462 P.2d 799 (1970):

It is argued that these two verdicts were inconsistent. The majority view in the country is that verdicts as between two defendants tried together need not show rational consistency. See Annot., 22 A.L.R.3d 717, 723 (1968). In the recent case of State v. Zakhar, 105 Ariz. 31, 459 P.2d 83 (1969), we held that consistency between verdicts on the several counts of an indictment is unnecessary. While Zakhar, supra, is not squarely on point, it does reject the proposition that reviewing courts may second-guess juries on the logic of their verdicts. Such a refusal to invade this province of the jury has been the basis for several decisions holding that verdicts as between two defendants, the situation in the case at bar, need not be consistent. In Taylor v. State, 159 Fla. 74, 31 So.2d 47 (1947), the court held that there was no inconsistency warranting reversal of a grand larceny conviction because the other jointly charged defendant was found guilty of petit larceny. See also Odom v. United States, 377 F.2d 853, 22 A.L.R.3d 705 (5 Cir. 1967), and United States v. Bergdoll, 272 F. 498 (D.C. [3 Cir.] 1921).

105 Ariz. at 251, 462 P.2d at 800. Thus, where joint defendants are tried, consistency or inconsistency in their respective verdict is not the question. The question is whether there is substantial evidence in the record to sustain the jury verdict against the defendant appealing. A similar rule must be applied here. In State v. Joseph Tovar, supra, we held that the trial judge properly granted Joseph a new trial. The issue here, however, is whether the evidence substantially supports appellant’s conviction, and whether the prejudice attributed to Joseph’s trial has also prejudiced the trial of the appellant. See People v. Hobson, 77 Ill.App.3d 22, 32 Ill.Dec. 940, 396 N.E.2d 53 (1979); People v. Taylor, 25 Ill.App.3d 396, 323 N.E.2d 388 (1974).

A reading of the record demonstrates that although appellant and Joseph were tried jointly, they occupied entirely different status both as to the crimes charged and as to the proof of the crimes. Appellant, for example, was an employee.

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Bluebook (online)
627 P.2d 702, 128 Ariz. 551, 1980 Ariz. App. LEXIS 715, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-tovar-arizctapp-1980.