Davison v. State, 40208

• Decision Date: 20 December 1973
• Docket Number: No. 40208,40208
• Citation: 288 So.2d 483
• Parties: Donn E. DAVISON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 483

288 So.2d 483

Donn E. DAVISON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 40208.

Supreme Court of Florida.

Dec. 20, 1973.

John F. Roscow, III, of Scruggs, Carmichael, Tomlinson, Roscow & Pridgeon, Gainesville, for appellant.

Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., Raymond L. Marky and Ronald W. Sabo, Asst. Attys. Gen., for appellee.

DEKLE, Justice.

This case is before us pursuant to mandate of the United States Supreme Court for reconsideration of our previous opinion ¹ involving Fla.Stat. § 847.013, F.S.A., in light of the recent 'cluster' of U.S. Supreme Court decisions in obscenity cases. ² Having examined these decisions, we find that four issues previously raised and decided warrant reconsideration:

(1) the constitutionality vel non of Fla.Stat. § 847.013 (F.S.A.);

(2) whether the seizure of the motion picture films in question was improper under the circumstances;

(3) whether the statute in question ³ unconstitutionally fails to provide for prompt appellate consideration and final determination of whether material is 'harmful to minors'; and

(4) whether the trial court erred in applying, as the appropriate community standards, the prevailing standards with respect to what is suitable for the community as a whole of Alachua County, Florida.

These issues will be discussed in the order listed above.

This is one of the numerous cases from several states pending before the U.S. Supreme Court at the time of its decision in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 93 S.Ct. 2607, 37 L.Ed.2d 419 and related cases in regard to constitutionality of obscenity statutes. Davison, like the others, has been returned to the respective states for reexamination and reconsideration in light of the new U.S. Supreme Court decisions. We now proceed to this reconsideration.

STATUTE CONSTITUTIONAL

We have set forth in Rhodes v. State, 283 So.2d 351 (Fla.1973), just released, the application of these opinions with regard to the related statute § 847.011 and have upheld the statute on the basis of the principles set forth in Miller, etc. We find that the same principles apply here insofar as the issues in Rhodes were concerned and therefore cite Rhodes as the

                basis for confirmation of the constitutionality of the present statute, § 847.013 (Minors).  Moreover, there is more substantive ground for supporting the minors statute, in that this statute has explicitly set forth sexual acts and conduct required by the new cases to be 'spelled out' either in the statute or in authoritative constructions thereof.  In the case of this statute, one need not go beyond the four corners of the statute itself to find quite explicit definitions meeting this test.  4  In any event, the judicial constructions referred to in Rhodes back up and support the constitutionality of the statute
                

SEIZURE PROPER

On the evening of February 12, 1970, a 15-year-old minor was admitted to the showing of the double feature film in question ⁵ without any inquiry being made as to his age or any request for identification; he had been supplied the admission price in advance by an investigator for the Sheriff's Department, who followed the boy into the drive-in in a separate car and viewed the films. On February 14, the appellant theatre operator was arrested for violation of Fla.Stat. § 847.013, F.S.A., and prints of the films in question were taken for use as evidence, pursuant to a warrant. These prints were directly involved in the perpetration of the offense and were material evidence. No effort was made to prevent the theatre operator from showing other prints of the same films. The injunctive provisions of the statute are not involved in this case.

In Heller v. New York, 413 U.S. 483, 93 S.Ct. 2789, 37 L.Ed.2d 745, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the seizure of a film in similar circumstances. In that case, a judge had issued a search warrant after personally viewing the offending films, without notice to the theatre operator or a prior adversary hearing. In the course of upholding the seizure of the film as evidence in that case, the Supreme Court noted that no claim had been been made that the seizure prevented exhibition of the movie by use of another copy, and stated that there was no absolute right to a prior adversary hearing applicable to all cases where allegedly obscene material is seized. 'In particular, there is no such absolute right where allegedly obscene material is seized, pursuant to a warrant, to preserve the material as evidence in a criminal prosecution.' 413 U.S. at 485, 93 S.Ct. at 2792, 37 L.Ed.2d at 751. The court in that case observed that no 'final restraint' was imposed, but that only a copy of the film had been temporarily detained, so as to preserve it as evidence.

'If such a seizure is pursuant to a warrant issued after a determination of probable cause by a neutral magistrate, and, following the seizure, a prompt judicial determination of the obscenity issue in an adversary proceeding is available at the request of any interested party, the seizure is constitutionally permissible.' 413 U.S. at 487, 93 S.Ct. at 2795, 37 L.Ed.2d at 754.

In Roaden v. Kentucky, 413 U.S. 496, 93 S.Ct. 2796, 37 L.Ed.2d 757, the Supreme Court struck down as unreasonable the seizure of an allegedly obscene film where the seizure was based solely on the local sheriff's personal observation of the film and was made without any warrant or prior judicial determination of obscenity, despite the fact that only one copy of the film was seized, and the further fact that In the instant case, a warrant Had been issued by a judge following an inquiry into the alleged obscenity of the films in question, although the judge in this case had not, as had the judge in Heller, personally viewed the offending films. The material was seized pursuant to a warrant and for the purposes of preserving the material as evidence in a criminal prosecution, and there was no showing that the temporary detention of the film prevented the theater operator from obtaining and showing another copy of the same print. Thus, in accordance with Heller, we find that the seizure in the instant case was proper.

the seizure was for purposes of preserving the film as evidence.

PROMPT REVIEW

The next issue meriting reconsideration is the question of whether Fla.Stat. § 847.013, F.S.A. unconstitutionally fails to provide for prompt appellate review. As we have noted above, nothing prevented the appellant from securing another print of the film for showing. We also note in passing that appellant had made no efforts to have this cause specially expedited, and that F.A.R. 6.14, 32 F.S.A. gives criminal appeals precedence over other appeals.

In Heller v. New York, Supra, the Supreme Court noted the failure of the petitioner in that case to request expedited judicial consideration of the obscenity issue and observed that it was entirely possible that a prompt judicial determination of the obscenity issue in an adversary proceeding could have been obtained if desired. The Court also pointed out that standards of promptness applicable to a large-scale seizure of materials for destruction differed substantially from those applicable to seizure of a single copy for the bona fide purpose of preserving it as evidence in a criminal prosecution.

In the instant case, the appellant made no effort to have the cause specially expedited, and, as noted above, F.A.R. 6.14 gives criminal appeals precedence over others. Here, as in Heller, it was entirely possible for the appellant to obtain a prompt judicial determination of the obscenity issue in an adversary proceeding if he so desired. We note also that this case does not involve a large-scale seizure of materials for destruction, but merely the seizure of a single copy for the purpose of preserving it as evidence in a criminal prosecution. No 'final restraint' was placed upon appellant, the injunctive provisions of the statute not being involved, and he was entirely free to obtain and show another print of the films in question if he so chose. We therefore conclude that the requirements for prompt appellate determination of the obscenity issue, so far as applicable to the instant case, have been met.

COMMUNITY STANDARD

The fourth, and most difficult, question we deal with today is that of the applicable community standards. Appellant was convicted of knowingly exhibiting to a minor a motion picture depicting sexual conduct and harmful to minors, in violation of Fla.Stat. § 847.013(2)(a), F.S.A. In defining the applicable standard, the statute refers to: 'prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable for minors.' Fla.Stat. § 847.013(1)(f)(2), F.S.A. In his instructions to the jury, the experienced trial judge defined the applicable community as Alachua County.

In Miller v. California, Supra, the Supreme Court has determined that the 'contemporary community standards' to be applied in obscenity cases are not national standards, the Court specifically approving as 'constitutionally adequate' a requirement that the jury evaluate the materials with reference to the 'contemporary community standards of the State of California.' 413 U.S. at 33, 93 S.Ct. at 2621, 37 L.Ed.2d at 436. This holding is reiterated in Kaplan v. California, 413 U.S. 115, 93 S.Ct. 2680, 37 L.Ed.2d 492.

While the Supreme Court has not indicated whether the community whose standards are to be used may be geographically smaller than an entire state, we note that the Court in that case referred to the historical fact that jurors are permitted to draw on the standards of their community, and we note also that jurors are not chosen from a state-wide jury pool but rather on a county-by-county or circuit basis. Furthermore, the court in Miller stated:

'It is neither realistic nor constitutionally sound to read the First Amendment as requiring that the people of Maine or Mississippi accept public depiction of conduct found tolerable in Las Vegas,...