Western Corp. v. Commonwealth

558 S.W.2d 605, 3 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1670, 1977 Ky. LEXIS 540
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 18, 1977
StatusPublished

This text of 558 S.W.2d 605 (Western Corp. v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Kentucky Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Western Corp. v. Commonwealth, 558 S.W.2d 605, 3 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1670, 1977 Ky. LEXIS 540 (Ky. 1977).

Opinion

REED, Justice.

Appellant, The Western Corporation, and two of its employees, were charged with four counts of exhibiting an allegedly obscene motion picture entitled “Deep Throat.” The jury convicted The Western Corporation on all counts and fixed as penalty a fine of $1,000 on each count. The jury was unable to agree concerning the guilt of the two employees, the manager of the theatre and the projectionist, and the charges against them were subsequently dismissed on motion of the prosecution.

The Western Corporation filed motion for appeal under KRS 21.140(2). We have delayed disposition because of the pendency of several federal cases posing federal constitutional issues before the Supreme Court of the United States. Those cases have now been decided. We have agreed to grant the motion for an appeal, but we affirm the judgment for the reasons later stated.

Western, the corporate operator of a motion picture theatre in Paducah, Kentucky, was tried and convicted for violation of KRS 436.101, the state obscenity statute in effect at the time of the exhibition of the motion picture. This statute has undergone legislative revision and has now been succeeded by KRS 531.010, a part of the Kentucky Penal Code.

The evidence for the prosecution established that on April 12, 1974, the Judge of the Paducah Police Court, accompanied by two police officers, an attorney for the City of Paducah, and an assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney, went to the Fourth Street Cinema, operated by Western, and watched the showing of the film “Deep Throat” in its entirety. At the conclusion of the showing of the film, police officer Eberhardt signed and swore to an affidavit for a warrant for the seizure of the film. [607]*607The police judge immediately issued the warrant which was forthwith executed by the officer.

The next day, April 13, officer Eberhardt went again to the Fourth Street theatre where another print or copy of “Deep Throat” was being shown and, after viewing the entire picture, made an arrest, and seized another copy of the film. On April 22, officer Eberhardt entered the theatre and viewed approximately 15 minutes of the film “Deep Throat.” He determined that it was identical to a 15-minute portion of the film he had seen on April 12 and April 13, 1974, and made an arrest. Later in the day, on April 22, 1974, Eberhardt again went to the theatre. This time he saw approximately 18 minutes of the subject film which he determined was identical to portions of the film he had seen on April 12 and 13 in its entirety. Eberhardt again made an arrest.

The movie “Deep Throat” was introduced in evidence and has been viewed by this court. It contains repeated scenes of actual sexual intercourse, anal sodomy, fellatio and cunnilingus. The story line consists entirely of the sexual activities of Miss Linda Lovelace. We failed to find any serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value in this motion picture. We, therefore, agree with the jury’s conclusion that this exhibited material was obscene and vio-lative of contemporary community standards under the tests prescribed in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 93 S.Ct. 2607, 37 L.Ed.2d 419 (1973).

Western argues that KRS 436.101 was unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. This argument is based on the assertion that KRS 436.101 did not comply with the standards prescribed in Miller v. California, supra. Although Western asserts that the Supreme Court of the United States did not intend the Miller standards to be prospective only, that contention has been rejected by the Supreme Court in an appeal concerning the same motion picture, which was the subject of a federal prosecution in Kentucky. In Marks v. United States, 430 U.S. 188, 97 S.Ct. 990, 51 L.Ed.2d 260 (decided March 1, 1977), the Supreme Court held that part (c) of the Miller test was not retroactive, but that part (b) of the same test, wherein the court enumerated specific categories of material, did not purport to make criminal, for the purpose of the federal statute proscribing the exhibition of obscene material, conduct which had not previously been thought criminal. We have no difficulty in concluding that our previous decisions concerning the constitutionality of KRS 436.101 in light of the decision in Miller were correct. In Hall v. Commonwealth ex rel. Schroering, Ky., 505 S.W.2d 166 (1974), we construed our statute as consistent with the explications in Miller: “The hard core pornography with which we are here concerned has consistently been held by this court to constitute obscene material within the proscription of the statute prior to our decision in Hall." Keene v. Commonwealth, Ky., 516 S.W.2d 852, 855 (1974).

In Smith v. United States, 431 U.S. 291, 97 S.Ct. 1756, 52 L.Ed.2d 324 (decided May 23, 1977), the Supreme Court rejected a contention that the federal obscenity statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1461, was unconstitutionally vague. The court held that the judicial constructions of the statute flowed directly from its decisions in Hamling v. United States, 418 U.S. 87, 94 S.Ct. 2887, 41 L.Ed.2d 590 (1974), Miller v. California, supra, United States v. Reidel, 402 U.S. 351, 91 S.Ct. 1410, 28 L.Ed.2d 813 (1971), and Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476, 77 S.Ct. 1304, 1 L.Ed.2d 1498 (1957).

Our decisions cited herein make it quite clear that appellant was forewarned in sufficiently specific terms that the depiction in this film of the actual sexual conduct under the circumstances presented was proscribed because it was hard core pornography.

Certainly, we were more specific than was the concerned state court in Ward v. Illinois, 767 U.S. 431, 97 S.Ct. 2085, 52 L.Ed.2d 738, which was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States on June [608]*6089, 1977.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Roth v. United States
354 U.S. 476 (Supreme Court, 1957)
United States v. Reidel
402 U.S. 351 (Supreme Court, 1971)
Miller v. California
413 U.S. 15 (Supreme Court, 1973)
Heller v. New York
413 U.S. 483 (Supreme Court, 1973)
Hamling v. United States
418 U.S. 87 (Supreme Court, 1974)
Marks v. United States
430 U.S. 188 (Supreme Court, 1977)
Smith v. United States
431 U.S. 291 (Supreme Court, 1977)
Ward v. Illinois
431 U.S. 767 (Supreme Court, 1977)
Hall v. Commonwealth Ex Rel. Schroering
505 S.W.2d 166 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1974)
Keene v. Commonwealth
516 S.W.2d 852 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1974)
Marks v. United States
430 U.S. 188 (Supreme Court, 1977)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
558 S.W.2d 605, 3 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1670, 1977 Ky. LEXIS 540, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/western-corp-v-commonwealth-ky-1977.