People v. Lon Johnson
People v. Lon Johnson
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). The disposition of this case which I think sound does not require an expression of opinion on the obscenity issue.
The weight of authority heavily supports the view that a motion picture film being held for public exhibition may not be seized except pursuant to a search warrant issued following an adversary hearing. The United States Court of Appeals for the second,
The contrary authorities are decisions of United States district courts
In four of the cases decided by the United States Courts of Appeals the films were seized, as here, at the same time that the defendants were arrested.
The Supreme Court of California has also rejected the contention that a motion picture film being-exhibited in a public theatre may be seized without a
“Within the precinct of the First Amendment, only the requirement that a search warrant he obtained prior to any search or seizure assures a free society that the sensitive determination of obscenity will be made judicially and not ad hoc by police officers in the field. It has always been recognized that ‘the more important the rights at stake the more important must be the procedural safeguards surrounding those rights.’ (Speiser v. Randall [1958], 357 US 513, 520, 521 [78 S Ct 1332, 1339, 2 L Ed 2d 1460]).” Flack v. Municipal Court (1967), 66 Cal 2d 981 (59 Cal Rptr 872, 879, 880; 429 P2d 192, 199.)
In several cases the judicial officer who issued the search warrant saw the film before he issued it; this was held not to satisfy the requirement that there he an adversary hearing.
The people seek to distinguish Marcus
“The restraint involved in seizing a single copy of a book is exceedingly small; the dealer will usually have additional copies that can be sold.
“A film, however, is not directed to a single purchaser; it is aimed at all those who would be in the audience on the days that the film is scheduled to be shown. * * * Preventing this number of persons from viewing a film is certainly equivalent to seizing all copies of a book from the newsdealers involved in A Quantity of Boohs [supra]; in the functional terms we must use to balance the interest in suppressing obscenity against that of ensuring distribution of nonobscene views, the restraint here * * * is, if anything, more substantial than the seizure of less than 2000 books. * * * [I] f the State wishes to interfere substantially with distribution of films or books, it must first provide, as we have been instructed, an adversary hearing capable of affording a ‘reasonable likelihood’ that nonobscene films or books will reach the public.” Astro Cinema Corp., Inc., v. Mackell (CA 2, 1970), 422 F2d 293, 295, 296.
If, as has been suggested, the State fears that the film might be destroyed or the offending scenes eliminated before an adversary hearing can be held, it might consider obtaining an ex parte restraining order enjoining destruction.
Cambist Films, Inc., v. Duggan (CA3, 1969), 420 F2d 687, 689.
Tyrone, Inc., v. Wilkinson (CA4, 1969), 410 F2d 639.
Metzger v. Pearcy (CA7, 1968), 393 F2d 202.
United States v. Alexander (CA8, 1970), 428 F2d 1169.
Cambist Films, Inc., v. Tribell (ED Ky, 1968), 293 F Supp 407, 409 (three-judge court); Sokolic v. Ryan (SD Ga, 1969), 304 F Supp 213; Fontaine v. Dial (WD Tex, 1969), 303 F Supp 436 (three-judge court); Cambist Films, Inc., v. Illinois (ND Ill, 1968), 292 F Supp 185, 187; Mandell v. Carson (MD Fla, 1969), 309 F Supp 326, 328; Abrams & Parisi, Inc., v. Canale (WD, Tenn, 1969), 309 F Supp 1360; Bongiovanni v. Hogan (SD NY, 1970), 309 F Supp 1364.
See, e.g., Merritt v. Lewis (ED Cal, 1970), 309 F Supp 1254; Bazzell v. Gibbens (ED La, 1969), 306 F Supp 1057.
See, also, Entertainment Ventures, Inc., v. Brewer (MD Ala, 1969), 306 F Supp 802. The court ruled that an adversary hearing is not required if the magistrate views the film or makes a “constitutionally sufficient” inquiry into the officer’s conclusions, and local law provides for a prompt adversary hearing after the seizure. But see A Quantity of Books, infra, fn 14, pp 212, 213 and cases cited in fn 12, infra, and accompanying text.
People v. De Renzy (1969), 275 Cal App 2d 380 (79 Cal Rptr 777).
People v. Bloss (1969), 18 Mich App 410, 414, 415. That we are not bound by the opinions of our colleagues, see Warren v. Parole Board (1970), 23 Mich 754, 758, fn 4.
Bethview Amusement Corp. v. Cahn, supra; Astro Cinema Corp., Inc., v. Mackell (CA2, 1970), 422 F2d 293; Cambist Films, Inc., v. Duggan, supra; Metzger v. Pearcy, supra.
United States district court decisions recognizing that a prior adversary hearing is required even where the film is seized at the same time that the defendant is arrested include Sokolic v. Ryan, supra; Fontaine v. Dial, supra; Cambist Films, Inc., v. Illinois, supra; Abrams and Parisi, Inc., v. Canale, supra; Bongiovanni v. Hogan, supra.
Similarly, see Entertainment Ventures, Inc., v. Brewer, supra, p 809.
Tyrone, Inc., v. Wilkinson, supra, p 640; Astro Cinema Corp., Inc., v. Mackell, supra, p 294; Bethview Amusement Corp. v. Cahn, supra, p 411; United States v. Alexander, supra, p 1170.
Marcus v. Search Warrant (1961), 367 US 717 (81 S Ct 1708, 6 L Ed 2d 1127).
. 4 Quantity of Books v. Kansas (1964), 378 US 205 (84 S Ct 1723, 12 L Ed 2d 809).
A police officer testified at the preliminary examination that as far as he knew the seized film was the only copy available to the defendant, and that the film had not been exhibited at defendant’s theatre after the seizure.
See Bethview Amusement Corp. v. Cahn, supra, p 412; Astro Cinema Corp., Inc., v. Mackell, supra, p 296; Tyrone, Inc., v. Wilkinson, supra, pp 640, 641; Metzger v. Pearcy, supra, p 204.
In this case there is no reason to believe that the film would be destroyed. The theatre in question has been showing films with a sexual orientation for a number of years.
The trial judge, in his opinion, said, “Indeed, it is quite clear that_ defendant was cooperative with representatives of the people but it is a practical consideration [i.e., possible loss of the film] that should not be overlooked.”
Opinion of the Court
On June 9, 1969, defendant, Lon Johnson, was convicted of possession of an obscene movie with intent to show it to others. MCLA § 750.343a (Stat Ann 1970 Cum Supp § 28.575 [1]).
The facts are not in dispute. On November 6,1968, two Highland Park police officers went to the Hiland Art Theatre to view a motion picture entitled “Of the Same Gender”. After viewing the entire movie, they returned to the police station, conferred with the prosecutor, and on the basis of the personal observation of the movie by the officers, warrants for the arrest of defendant (the theatre manager) and seizure of the film were issued by a municipal judge.
The affidavits filed by the officers with the recommendation for the warrants were not conclusory. Bather, the officers detailed what they had seen and noted the length of time certain acts were performed on the screen. After obtaining the warrants, the officers returned to the theatre, viewed the film a second time, and then executed the warrants.
The defendant objected to the seizure of the film at examination and at trial. On appeal, he claims that the denial of his motions to suppress the film as evidence was error, and further, that the film was not constitutionally obscene. We disagree.
The prosecutor argues that when a police officer reasonably believes that a misdemeanor is being committed in his presence, he is empowered, and duty hound, to make an arrest, and seize the evidence of the crime as an incident to that arrest.
It is elementary that freedom of speech and expression are constitutionally protected, and it is well established that movies, as a form of speech and expression, fall within this protection. Joseph Burstyn, Inc., v. Wilson (1952), 343 US 495 (72 S Ct 777, 96 L Ed 1098); Kingsley International Pictures Corp. v. Regents (1959), 360 US 684 (79 S Ct 1362, 3 L Ed 2d 1512); Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964), 378 US 184 (84 S Ct 1676, 12 L Ed 2d 793). However, as with other mediums, courts have not given motion pictures absolute freedom. As in every other form of expression, obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment guarantees of free speech. Roth v. United States (1957), 354 US 476 (77 S Ct 1304, 1 L Ed 2d 1498); Ginsberg v. New York (1968), 390 US 629 (88 S Ct 1274, 20 L Ed 2d 195). Moreover, in Burstyn, supra, pp 502, 503, the Court noted the capacity for greater evil in motion pictures than in other forms of expression :
“It does not follow that the Constitution requires absolute freedom to exhibit every motion picture of every kind at all times and all places. * # * Nor doés it follow that motion pictures are necessarily subject to the precise rules governing any other method of expression. Each method tends to present its own peculiar problems.”
Two decisions of the United States Supreme Court form the basis of defendant’s argument that a prior
"We find, however, no United States Supreme Court cases extending this requirement to motion pictures. Lee Art Theatre, Inc., v. Virginia (1968), 392 US 636 (88 S Ct 2103, 20 L Ed 2d 1313) held that the seizure of a movie pursuant to a warrant issued on the strength of conclusory assertions of a police officer was invalid. Absent inquiry by the issuing magistrate into the factual basis for the officer’s conclusions, the procedure there fell short of the constitutional requirements demanding recognition of freedom of expression. There is nothing in Lee, supra, to suggest that a prior adversary hearing is required. We note that the affidavits in this case were sufficiently detailed so as to meet the requirement found in Lee, supra.
While we recognize that other courts have extended the requirement of a prior adversary hearing to the medium of motion pictures,
We have viewed the movie and find that it is obscene in the constitutional sense as delineated by the United States Supreme Court. See Roth v. United States, supra; Redrup v. New York (1967), 386 US 767 (87 S Ct 1414, 18 L Ed 2d 515); Memoirs v. Massachusetts (1966), 383 US 413 (86 S Ct 975, 16 L Ed 2d 1); Ginzburg v. United States (1966), 383 US 463 (86 S Ct 942, 16 L Ed 2d 31). We find that the dominant theme of the movie as a whole appeals to prurient interest in sex, that it is patently offensive because it goes beyond contemporary community standards relating to the description of sexual matters, and that it is utterly without redeeming social value.
Affirmed.
See, e.g., Tyrone, Inc., v. Wilkinson (CA4, 1969), 410 F2d 639; Metzger v. Pearcy (CA7, 1968), 393 F2d 202.
Bethview Amusement Corp. v. Cahn (CA2, 1969), 416 F2d 410, 412.
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