Bryant v. North Carolina Horn v. North Carolina
| Decision Date | 29 October 1974 |
| Docket Number | No. 73-1811,No. 73-1818,73-1811,73-1818 |
| Parties | Joe BRYANT and Raymond Mitchell Floyd v. State of NORTH CAROLINA. Jake HORN v. State of NORTH CAROLINA |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
On petitions for writs of certiorari to the Supreme Court of North Carolina.
The petitions for writs of certiorari are denied.
Petitioner Bryant and Floyd were convicted in the Superior Court of Mecklenburg County of exhibiting allegedly obscene motion pictures in violation of North Carolina General Statute 14-190.1 (Cum.Supp.1971). Petitioner Horn was convicted in the Superior Court of New Hanover County of selling allegedly obscene magazines in violation of the same statute. Section 14-190.1 provided in pertinent part at the times of the alleged offenses as follows:
'(1) Sells . . . any obscene writing, picture, record, or other representation or embodiment of the obscene; or . . .
'(4) Exhibits . . . any obscene still or motion picture, film, filmstrip, or any matter or material which is a representation, embodiment, performance, or publication of the obscene.
'(b) For purposes of this Article any material is obscene if:
'(3) The material is utterly without redeeming social value.'
Petitioners Bryant and Floyd appealed their convictions to the Court of Appeals of North Carolina, which affirmed. The Supreme Court of North Carolina dismissed an appeal and denied a petition for writ of certiorari. This Court then granted certiorari, vacated the judgment of the Court of Appeals, and remanded for consideration in light of Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 93 S.Ct. 2607, 37 L.Ed.2d 419 (1953), and companion cases. On remand, the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of North Carolina both again affirmed the convictions.
Mr. Justice DOUGLAS, being of the view that any state or federal ban on or regulation of obscenity is prohibited by the Constitution, Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476, 508, 77 S.Ct. 1304, 1 L.Ed.2d 1498; Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 43-48, 93 S.Ct. 2607, 37 L.Ed.2d 419; Paris Adult Theatre v. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49, 70-73, 93 S.Ct. 2628, 37 L.Ed.2d 446, would grant certiorari and summarily reverse.
Petitioner Horn's conviction was affirmed by the North Carolina Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court of North Carolina also affirmed, in an opinion rendered after Miller was decided.
It is my view that 'at least in the absence of distribution to juveniles or obtrusive exposure to unconsenting adults, the First and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit the State and Federal Governments from attempting wholly to suppress sexually oriented materials on the basis of their allegedly 'obscene' contents.' Paris Adult Theatre...
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