Court Opinion

ID: 9855958
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:34:55.465373+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:37:19.649856
License: Public Domain

ERICKSON, Justice,
concurring in the result only:
I respectfully concur in the result because I disagree with the analysis and the breadth of the majority decision. I agree with that part of the majority opinion that holds “that defining ‘patently offensive’ in terms of tolerance does not impermissibly reach protected speech, and therefore is not overbroad.” Maj. op. at 1066. This decision is the most recent in a series of decisions by this court determining the constitutionality of Colorado's obscenity statute, now codified at sections 18-7-101 to -105, 8B C.R.S. (1986). See People v. Seven Thirty-Five East Colfax, 697 P.2d 348 (Colo.1985); People v. New Horizons, Inc., 616 P.2d 106 (Colo.1980); People v. Hildebrandt, 190 Colo. 167, 544 P.2d 384 (1976); Menefee v. City and County of Denver, 190 Colo. 163, 544 P.2d 382 (1976); People v. Tabron, 190 Colo. 161, 544 P.2d 380 (1976) (Tabron II); People v. Tabron, 190 Colo. 149, 544 P.2d 372 (1976) (Tabron I).
The majority’s analysis of the Colorado obscenity statutes and the Colorado Constitution does not, in my opinion, square with our former precedent, the issues addressed when article II, section 10 of the Colorado Constitution was adopted, or the legislative history in formulating statutes enacted to comply with the mandates of the United States Supreme Court. In my view, the majority overemphasizes the importance of the Colorado Constitution’s framers’ intent, even going so far as to speculate that the framers’ “silence” means that obscenity “was considered an ‘abuse’ of the freedom of speech.” Maj. op. at 1065. Compare Parrish v. Lamm, 758 P.2d 1356 (Colo.1988) (recognizing that article II, section 10 of the Colorado Constitution provides broader protection for freedom of speech than the first amendment to the United States Constitution); People v. Seven Thirty-Five East Colfax Inc., 697 P.2d 348 (Colo.1985) (same); Tabron I, 190 Colo. *1071149, 544 P.2d 372; In re Canon 35, 132 Colo. 591, 296 P.2d 465 (1956) (same) with slip op. at 1065 (depicting obscenity regulation as the result of the Colorado Constitutions’s framers’ intent). The “Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention,” published in 1907 by the Colorado Secretary of State, contains no separate discussion of article II, section 10 at any point in which the “Bill of Rights” was reported by subcommittee. Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention, 90, 143, 376, 487, 523, 525, 664 (1907). The “Address to the People” in the proceedings in support of adoption of the Colorado Constitution indicates that the Bill of Rights in the state constitution simply retains “the usual guarantees of national and civil rights,” except in the particulars mentioned which do not include any reference to freedom of speech. Id. at 723-24. Accordingly, there is no suggestion in the Proceedings that the framers of the Colorado Constitution intended to limit the free speech guarantees afforded by the first amendment or exclude obscenity from the protections afforded by article II, section 10 of the Colorado Constitution. It is also noteworthy that on March 14, 1876, when our constitution was adopted, a territorial law on obscenity was in existence which provided:
If any person shall hereafter bring or cause to be brought or imported into this territory, for sale, or shall sell or offer to sell any obscene book, pamphlet or print, every such person shall, on conviction, be fined in a sum not less than twenty-five dollars, nor more than two hundred dollars.
Gen.Laws of Colo., ch. XXII, div. X, § 129 (1868). In 1877, the identical law was reenacted by the General Assembly substituting the word “state” for “territory.” Gen. Laws of Colo. ch. XXIV, div. X, § 133 (1877). In 1885, the obscenity statute was broadened to prohibit the sale, possession, or exhibition of any “obscene, lewd, or indecent, or lascivious publication.” 1885 Colo. Sess. Laws 172. The statute specifically banned any newspaper or magazine containing pictures of “nude, or partly nude, men or women, or pictures of men or women in indecent attitudes or positions.” Id. This statute remained the source of obscenity law in Colorado until 1969, when the General Assembly enacted new legislation. §§ 40-28-1 to -10, C.R.S. (1969). The new statute defined obscenity as any material that appealed to a person’s prurient interest in sex and was “utterly without redeeming social value.” § 40-28-1.
In my view, neither Cooper v. People, 13 Colo. 337, 22 P. 790 (1889), cited by the majority, nor any other case, supports the statement that the “framers of our constitution did not consider obscenity to be protected expression.” Cooper was a contempt proceeding arising out of the publication of certain articles and a cartoon relating to a pending case. Obscenity was not an issue in that case, and Cooper does not support the constitutional analysis set forth in the majority opinion.
In Tabron I, we reviewed the basis for the enactment of the first amendment and stated that whether the framers of our federal constitution were influenced by the common law experience with obscenity was an unresolved issue. Tabron I, 544 P.2d at 374. History suggests that the colonists had no desire to impose the English common law limitations on freedom of speech and freedom of press upon the citizens of the United States. Id.
I cannot accept the conclusion that territorial laws, laws enacted by other states, and the laws enacted by the General Assembly soon after Colorado became a state provide evidence that the framers of the Colorado Constitution did not consider obscenity to be protected speech. Slip op. at 1065, 1066. Colorado cases interpreting the Colorado Constitution and the statutory regulation of obscenity were decided long after the constitution came into being. The modern law of obscenity that controls the first amendment issues in this case is derived primarily from Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 93 S.Ct. 2607, 37 L.Ed.2d 419 (1973). See generally, J. Nowak, R. Rotunda & J. Young, Constitutional Law 1016-27 (2d ed.1985). In construing the first amendment to the United States Constitution, we are required to follow the decisions of the United States Supreme Court, but *1072we are at liberty to interpret article II, section 10 of the Colorado Constitution. The General Assembly has repeatedly followed the blueprint which this court has provided to comply with the decisions announced by the Supreme Court of the United States and, although the most recently enacted obscenity statute is not perfect, it passes constitutional muster.
In the seminal decision of Tabron I, we conducted an extensive analysis of obscenity regulation including the United States Supreme Court’s pronouncement in Miller, 413 U.S. 15, 93 S.Ct. 2607, 37 L.Ed.2d 419 (1973). We relied upon the three-part test for identifying obscenity set forth in Miller1 and acknowledged that Miller abandoned the “utterly without redeeming social value” test promulgated in A Book Named “John Cleland’s Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure” v. Attorney General of Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 383 U.S. 413, 86 S.Ct. 975, 16 L.Ed.2d 1 (1966). The defendant in Tabron I was convicted of promoting obscenity in violation of the Colorado obscenity statute.2 § 40-7-101(1) & (2), 8 C.R.S. (1971). We analyzed the obscenity statute against the backdrop of the Miller test and concluded that under the standards promulgated by the United States Supreme Court, the statutory definition of “obscene” was overbroad.3 Tabron I, 190 Colo. 149, 158-59, 544 P.2d 372, 378-79. We held that the obscenity statute violated the second part of the Miller test because it failed to describe what constituted an “ultimate sexual act.” Id. at 159, 544 P.2d at 379. We declined, however, to judicially rewrite the obscenity statute and provided direction to guide the General Assembly to enact an obscenity statute that would meet the Miller standards.
When Tabron I was decided, we issued a number of companion cases based upon the Tabron I holding. See Hildebrandt, 190 Colo. 167, 544 P.2d 384 (upholding dismissal of obscenity charges); Menefee, 190 Colo. 163, 544 P.2d 382 (striking down a municipal ordinance as unconstitutionally vague and overbroad for failing to describe with requisite specificity the sexual conduct which cannot be depicted, thereby violating the Miller standard); Tabron II, 190 Colo. 161, 544 P.2d 380 (in applying the Miller standard, a statewide community standard must be employed).
In response to our decision in Tabron I, the legislature repealed and reenacted the definitional portion of the obscenity statute, effective July 1, 1976. Ch. 97, secs. 1-6, §§ 18-7-101 to -402 and § 31-15-401, 1976 Colo. Sess. Laws 555-60. The reenacted statute stated:
“Obscene material” means that material, as defined in subsection (4) of this section, which:
(a) Taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest of the average person, applying contemporary community standards; and
(b) Depicts or describes hard-core sexual conduct; and
(c) Taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
§ 18-7-102(6), 8 C.R.S. (1976 Supp.). The 1976 statute, then, substantially adopted *1073the Miller standard and complied with the holding of Tabron II, requiring the use of a statewide community standard.4
Four years later, we addressed the constitutionality of the newly enacted Colorado obscenity statute in People v. New Horizons, Inc., 200 Colo. 377, 616 P.2d 106 (Colo.1980). We focused on section 18-7-101(5), 8 C.R.S. (1980 Supp.), the section of the statute that defined “material” for use in the definition of “obscene material.”5 We determined that the statute was unconstitutional because the statute excluded “the printed or written word” from the definition of “obscene material.” New Horizons, 200 Colo. at 383, 616 P.2d at 110. The exclusion of printed or written words mandates that the material be considered without accompanying words and accordingly does not permit the trier of fact to consider the disputed work “as a whole” as required by Miller. Id. Because section 18-7-101(5) violated Miller, we struck down the entire statute.
In response to our decision in New Horizons, the General Assembly again reenacted the definitional sections of the obscenity statute, effective July 1, 1981. Ch. 223, secs. 1 to 3, §§• 18-7-101 to -106, 1981 Sess. Laws 998-1002. The reenacted definition of “material” stated:
“Material” means anything tangible that is capable of being used or adapted to arouse interest, whether through the medium of reading, observation, sound, or in any other manner, but does not include an actual three dimensional obscene device.
We again considered the constitutionality of the obscenity statute five years later in People v. Seven Thirty-Five East Colfax, Inc., 697 P.2d 348 (Colo.1985). In that case the district attorney commenced a civil action for injunctive relief to have certain items declared obscene pursuant to section 18-7-103, 8 C.R.S. (1984 Supp.).6 Seven Thirty-Five East Colfax, Inc. defended on the ground that the obscenity statute is unconstitutional, both facially and as applied. We held that various terms and phrases in the obscenity statute were unconstitutional. Rather than striking down the entire statute, we severed the unconstitutional language. Seven Thirty-Five, 697 P.2d at 371-74.
Accordingly, the current obscenity statute has been developed over the last thirteen years through the legislative response to our decisions holding that specific sections or words did not meet constitutional scrutiny when measured against Miller and its progeny. See generally, Richardson, Obscenity Law in Colorado: The Struggle to Pass a Constitutional Statute, 60 Den. L.J. 49 (1982). The guidepost for our review has consistently been the standards on obscenity articulated by the United States Supreme Court in Miller. The majority opinion erroneously references the “framers’ ” view of obscenity and bases a significant part of its analysis on whether or not the statute is constitutional based on the framers’ intent when the Colorado Constitution was enacted. The process of judicial and legislative reevaluation of the definition of obscenity requires a narrow interpretation of the obscenity case and statutory law and does not mandate a broad reading grounded upon a strict construction of the Colorado Constitution.
Material which may be labeled “obscene” has been primarily measured by first amendment standards, as reflected in Miller. As first amendment law has evolved, so has our view of what material is “obscene.” Certainly, what was obscene in the 1800’s at the time the Colorado Consti*1074tution was drafted might not be obscene today. It is clear that no decisions of the United States or Colorado Supreme Courts at the beginning of the twentieth century dealt with first amendment issues relating to obscenity. Regardless of what the intent was at the time the Colorado Constitution was framed, we will continue to be confronted with difficult issues regarding the definition of obscenity when measured by the decisions of the United States Supreme Court and our Colorado Constitution. The community standards popular in the 1800’s can hardly be said to be applicable to either the definition or law of obscenity today.

. The three-part test or set of standards articulated in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 93 S.Ct. 2607, 37 L.Ed.2d 419 (1973), for identifying obscene material is:
"(a) Whether ‘the average person applying contemporary community standards’ would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest ...;
(b) Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and
(c) Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value."
Tabron I, 190 Colo, at 156, 544 P.2d at 376-77 (quoting Miller, 413 U.S. at 24, 93 S.Ct. at 2614).

. Although the cases repeatedly reference the obscenity statutes in their entirety, the focus of the constitutional challenges has been the definitional sections of the statutes.

. Section 40-7-101 defined obscene material as "that which, considered as a whole, predominately appeals to prurient interest, i.e., a lustful or morbid interest in nudity, sex, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, excretion, sadism, masochism, or sado-masochistic abuse, and which goes substantially beyond customary limits of candor in describing, portraying, or dealing with such matters and is utterly without redeeming social value.”

. The obscenity statute was repealed and reenacted with amendments in 1977, however, the amendments were minimal and did not affect the 1976 wholesale redrafting of the definitions of obscenity. See Ch. 231, sec. 1, § 18-7-101, 1977 Colo.Sess.Laws 982-86.

. Section 18-7-101(5) provides:
"Material” means any physical object, facsimile, recording, transcription, pictorial representation, motion picture, or reproduction, whether mechanical, electrical, or chemical, which is used as a means of communicating sensation or emotion to human beings to or through the visual, aural, or tactile senses, but does not include the printed or written word.

. Section 18-7-103 was reenacted in 1981 as part of the reenactment of the entire obscenity statute.