Opinion ID: 1775238
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Pre-arrest Hearing

Text: Johnson and Hensley also contend that the obscenity statute is totally invalid because La.R.S. 14:106(F)(1) provides for a pre-arrest adversary hearing and judicial determination of obscenity, except in cases involving:    motion pictures, printed materials and photographic materials showing actual ultimate sexual acts or simulated or animated ultimate sexual acts when there is an explicit, close-up depiction of human genital organs so as to give the appearance of the consummation of ultimate sexual acts.    However, a pre-arrest hearing, as opposed to a pre-seizure hearing, is not constitutionally compelled in any instance. Milky Way Productions, Inc. v. Leary, 305 F.Supp. 288 (S.D.N.Y.1969), aff'd per curiam sub nom., New York Feed Co. v. Leary, 397 U.S. 98, 90 S.Ct. 817, 25 L.Ed.2d 78 (1970); see, Highlights of the 1974 Regular Session Obscenity Regulation, 35 La.L.Rev. 601, 605 (1975). In the instant case the appellees do not complain in motion or in argument about the nature of their arrests. We are not prepared to state categorically that no constitutional problems could be presented by the statutory exception for arrest without a hearing when the offense charged is depiction of ultimate sex acts. Nevertheless, within the context of the present case we see no constitutional or statutory frailty in the provision. For the reasons assigned, the judgments of the district court sustaining the appellees' motions to quash the informations in the cases of State v. Johnson, docket number 58,495, and State v. Hensley, docket number 58,496, are reversed and set aside, and the cases are remanded for further proceedings. MARCUS, J., concurs. SANDERS, C. J., concurs in the decree.