Court Opinion

ID: 9683128
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:22:58.99952+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:44.639229
License: Public Domain

SEILER, Chief Justice
(dissenting and concurring in result).
I respectfully dissent. I would reverse outright. As I attempted to point out in my dissent in Kansas City v. O’Connor, 510 S.W.2d 689, 698 (Mo. banc 1974), we have a strong freedom of speech clause in our Missouri Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 8. It provides: “That no law shall be passed impairing the freedom of speech, no matter by what means communicated; that every person shall be free to say, write or publish, or otherwise communicate whatever he will on' any subject, being responsible for all abuses of that liberty . . .”
As I said in the O’Connor case, supra, “The spirit of this clause of our constitution is that all speech is protected until the freedom is abused — that is, unless the speech infringes on the rights of others.” I fail to see where this book in any way infringes on the rights of others. Merely because the United States Supreme Court might find “The Happy Hooker” to be obscene does not mean that we have to follow suit. Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49, 93 S.Ct. 2628, 37 L.Ed.2d 446 (1973). The freedom of speech clause in the Missouri constitution (which we, of course are sworn to uphold) straightforwardly tells us that we must protect the freedom of speech, the right of every person to write whatever he will on any subject. We should do so in this case and dissolve this injunction.
In the period of time I have been on the court, I do not recall any case where we have failed to hold that the material before us was obscene. We usually do this by using tests formulated by the United States Supreme Court as to what can constitutionally be forbidden under the First Amendment. We approach it as though the limits beyond which we cannot go are the limits to which we must go.
In my opinion this is not a workable approach and we do not need to inflict it upon ourselves. Our own opinions describe the course chartered by the United States Supreme Court in what Judge Henley refers to as “this troubled area” as having “created uncertainty”, S. S. & W., Inc. v. Kansas City, 515 S.W.2d 487, 490 (Mo.1974). In my judgment, the only workable solution is to abide by the provisions of our own constitution that “every person shall be free to say, write or publish, or otherwise communicate whatever he will on any subject”, leaving it to the good sense of the Missouri public whether or not to read or purchase a particular book, so long as the author or publisher does not abuse the liberty guaranteed by our constitution by attempting to impose “The Happy Hooker”, for example, on those who do not want it, or advertising it in an offensive way or offering it to children (there is no evidence of any such abuse in this case).
If we have accomplished anything constructive by the rigid way we have dealt with obscenity cases I fail to see it. Certainly we have not lessened publication and sale of the class of books of which “The Happy Hooker” is an example. If anyone doubts this, let him go to any news or bookstand in any town of size in Missouri and see for himself. And, in fact, the book before us, “The Happy Hooker” has now been made into a motion picture.
But to return to the federal criteria referred to in the principal opinion, the book under consideration is more than a series of stark sexual encounters. As stated in one of the book reviews in evidence in the trial:
*350“After sorting through the beds, hotels, and naked bodies, one realizes that the book is nothing more than an appeal to legalize prostitution”. This is a critical fact. The book, taken as a whole, does have some “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value”. This brings it under the protection of the First Amendment, according to Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 93 S.Ct. 2607, 37 L.Ed.2d 419 (1973). “The Happy Hooker” provides a source of information about an underside of our society and it seriously makes an argument for the legalization of prostitution and abolition of victimless crimes. Social studies can make use of this kind of an account. The book, as a whole, does provide some insight into who becomes a prostitute, why, who utilizes the services of prostitutes and how the system works. Regardless of one’s views as to legalization of prostitution it must be recognized as a live question. The Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities of the American Bar Association has adopted a resolution urging repeal of prostitution laws. Constitutional freedom of speech provisions protect contributions to legitimate discussions of the reshaping of our society. They operate to protect this book from a decree ordering it destroyed.
Finally, while I believe this case should be reversed outright, it can at least be said for the method used here — injunctive relief under Sec. 563.285 RSMo 1969 — that it operates prospectively and does not subject an individual to criminal penalties for conduct relating to material which he has no way of knowing will be considered obscene until after the members of this court have decided how it strikes them individually. If the case is not to be reversed outright, then I would concur in the result reached in the principal opinion of reversing and remanding for a new trial.