Opinion ID: 1215871
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Rulings by the Court.

Text: Appellant strongly contends that the trial court erred in not suppressing as evidence the motion picture film seized twice by the state because the affidavits used to obtain the search warrants were legally insufficient. Appellant argues that in each instance the affiant merely recited what he considered to be highlights of the film to obtain search warrants without relating the entire text of the film to the judge who issued the warrants. Appellant further argues that affiant's subjective evaluation that the film was hard core pornography does not support the affidavit for constitutional purposes. Appellant primarily relies on the rule applied in Lee Art Theatre v. Virginia, 392 U. S. 636, 637 (88 SC 2103, 20 LE2d 1313) (1968), where it was observed that: The procedure under which the warrant issued solely upon the conclusory assertions of the police officer without any inquiry by the justice of the peace into the factual basis for the officer's conclusions was not a procedure `designed to focus searchingly on the question of obscenity' [citing Marcus v. Search Warrant, 367 U. S. 717, 731 (81 SC 1708, 6 LE2d 1127)], and therefore fell short of constitutional requirements demanding necessary sensitivity to freedom of expression. A review of the affidavits used to secure the two warrants issued in this case reveals factual descriptions of numerous representative scenes depicted in the film. These affidavits were sufficient to show probable cause for the issuance of the warrants. See, Heller v. New York, 413 U. S. 483 (93 SC 2789, 37 LE2d 745) (1973); and, Crecelius v. Commonwealth, 502 S. W. 2d 89 (Ky.) (1973). We also note that a commitment hearing was held nine days after service of the first warrant and at that adversary hearing the committal judge determined from the evidence that probable cause existed to conclude there was a violation of the Georgia obscenity statute by appellant. Thereafter, appellant proceeded at his own risk to participate in the exhibition of another copy of the same film by selling admission tickets to the theatre. With regard to the seizure of the second copy of the film, we are aware of the implication of prior restraint. As stated in Heller v. New York, supra, p. 492, On a showing to the trial court that other copies of the film are not available to the exhibitor, the court should permit the seized film to be copied so that showing can be continued pending a judicial determination of the obscenity issue in an adversary proceeding. In the present case, at the time of seizure of the second copy, there had been a judicial determination (of probable cause) in an adversary proceeding that the film was obscene. In addition, there has been no showing here that seizure of the second copy left the exhibitor without another copy to exhibit, nor is there any evidence that he made any request to copy the film. The Supreme Court, in Heller, was seeking to strike a balance between the facilitation of seizing allegedly obscene material as evidence while minimizing the effect of prior restraint of possible First Amendment rights. See, Crecelius v. Commonwealth, 502 S. W. 2d 89, supra, p. 92. We conclude that the search and seizure in this case were not invalid for any reason urged by appellant. Appellant also argues that he was denied a fair trial by the trial court's interference with the presentation of the defense in the case, and by other conduct which demonstrated prejudice against appellant during the trial of the case. A review of the record does reveal a good deal of conflict between the court and counsel during the trial but it fails to show prejudice against appellant. Most of it occurred in an effort by the court to require counsel in the case, both for the state and the defendant, to present properly to the jury admissible evidence on the correct legal issues to be decided in the case. It is the duty of the trial court to control the trial of the case and to insure a fair trial to both sides on the disputed issues in the case. Sometimes this requires interference by the court with the conduct of counsel or with a witness in the trial. The trial judge has broad discretion in handling these matters and we are loath to interfere with that discretion unless it is manifestly abused by clearly demonstrated prejudice or unfairness. While another trial judge may not have conducted the trial of this case in the same way as this trial judge did, we do not agree the trial court interfered so as to deprive the appellant of a fair trial. See, Carr v. State, 76 Ga. 592, 593 (2c) (1885), and Wilson v. State, 229 Ga. 224 (2) (190 SE2d 78) (1972). It is also urged in this appeal that the trial court improperly instructed the jury on the law in the case and the conviction must be reversed because of it. Appellant argues that the jury was prevented from intelligently passing upon the issues in the case because the trial court gave instructions on the law to the jury four times during the trial and that each instruction was different. Appellant also contends that parts of the instructions were argumentative and incomplete. It is well settled by case law that the charge of the court must be taken in its entirety when considering its impact upon the jurors. See, Cooper v. State, 212 Ga. 367 (92 SE2d 864); and Fox v. Burns, 142 Ga. 119 (2) (82 SE 521) (1914). The record shows the trial judge was concerned during the trial of the case that the jury know the essential elements of the crime with which appellant was charged in order to understand the evidence being introduced on the issues in the case. In attempting to clarify for the jury the involved legal questions they had to consider, the trial judge did instruct the jury several times during the trial. Although the language in each instruction was not identical, when taken as a whole the jury was clearly informed of the correct applicable law as it related to the question of obscenity and the responsibility of the jury in the case. The instructions given by the trial judge are supported by the decision of this court in Slaton v. Paris Adult Theatre I, supra, and the trial court was careful to instruct the jury that it was not emphasizing any part of the instructions by repetition. Under the circumstances of this case, we find no reversible error arising from the repetition of instructions given by the trial court. Appellant also urges that in explaining the community standard portion of the obscenity statute, the trial judge improperly used confusing and argumentative language. Excerpts from the language complained of in the charges are as follows: ... the community of Georgia, as evolved from generation to generation along with our civilization ... by general consensus of the community of Georgia as a whole, would be offensive to the common instincts of decency of people generally ... Subsequent to the trial of this case, the United States Supreme Court in Hamling, supra, approved the use of similar language in the following charge: The trial court instructed the jury that it was to judge the obscenity vel non of the brochure by reference to `what is reasonably accepted according to the contemporary standards of the community as a whole, ... This phrase means, as it has been aptly stated, the average conscience of the time, and the present critical point in the compromise between candor and shame, at which the community may have arrived here and now.' 94 S. C. 2887, 2900. We conclude the trial court's instruction in the present case was not error. Finally, we note the trial court clearly pointed out to the jury that all elements of the definition of obscenity must coalesce and co-exist. We believe this instruction served to cure any error in the court's use of the disjunctive or, rather than the conjunctive and in the parts of the charge complained of by appellant. Appellant also argues that the failure of the trial judge to define the words, shameful or morbid, as requested by appellant at the trial, prevented the jury from intelligently passing upon the appellant's guilt and denied appellant a fair trial. We agree with the appellee that these words used in the statute to define a prurient interest in sex are not words of art but rather are words of common understanding and meaning which require no definition themselves for understanding by the jury. Therefore, we conclude that the instructions of the trial court, when considered in their entirety, were correct and did not deprive appellant of a fair trial. Appellant further claims a denial of his double jeopardy rights under the State (Code Ann. § 2-108) and Federal (Fifth Amendment) Constitutions in that he was convicted and sentenced for two crimes when there was but one single transaction in this case. Appellant cites Code Ann. § 26-506 (multiple prosecutions for same conduct) to contend here there was but one course of conduct and that if a crime has been committed, he can be punished only once for it. Appellant argues that the accusation charged him in two counts of violating the same statute and that the proof involved a regularly scheduled showing of a motion picture in a theatre with no disruption of scheduling. The exhibition of the film on two separate dates, appellant argues, does not permit the state to pyramid the charges and punishment against him. Appellant relies primarily upon the cases of Phillips v. State, 99 Ga. App. 424 (108 SE2d 721) (1959), and Estes v. State, 98 Ga. App. 521 (106 SE2d 405) (1958). Those cases each dealt with lotteries where defendants had sold chances to different people on separate dates for a prize. However, in neither case did the evidence show each transaction involved a different lottery. That is, the evidence did not show that there was more than one drawing and prize so it was held that even though several tickets were sold to different people, they were all for the same lottery and this constituted a single crime. The facts of the present case are distinguishable from Phillips and Estes. Code Ann. § 26-2101 states that, A person commits the offense of distributing obscene materials when he ... exhibits or otherwise disseminates to any person any obscene material ... Unlike the multifaceted lottery, a separate offense occurred each time the obscene film was exhibited. Under the rationale of Phillips and Estes, perhaps it could logically be argued that if appellant sold tickets to see the film on different dates, but had exhibited the movie only once, there would be only a single crime, but that is not the case here. There were two distinct episodes involving different dates of exhibition and even different copies of the same film. This record shows two criminal violations, not a single crime. This court agrees that First Amendment rights deserve strong protection, e.g., Sanders v. State of Georgia, 231 Ga. 608 (203 SE2d 153) (1974). However, in this case appellant was put on notice, at the commitment hearing, that probable cause existed to believe that this film, Devil in Miss Jones, was not within the realm of protected expression. In the face of this judicial finding of probable cause for violating Code Ann. § 26-2101, appellant returned to the theatre and commenced to participate in the exhibition of a second copy of the same film. This was done at his own risk and appellant will not now be heard to claim double jeopardy as a bar to his conviction for the second offense. See Crecelius v. Commonwealth, supra. Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur.