Court Opinion

ID: 9631276
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:33:22.96143+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:51.542741
License: Public Domain

FELDMAN, Justice,
dissenting.
While obscenity is not constitutionally protected, the procedure by which we determine what is obscene, unprotected speech directly implicates the first amendment because the threat of criminal prosecution chills freedom of expression. F. SCHAUER, THE LAW OF OBSCENITY at 35-40 (Bureau of National Affairs, 1976). Today’s decision is a step toward compelled self-censorship—not just of obscene material but of all material. It would take- a hardy soul indeed to continue to stock ULYSSES on the shelves of a bookstore, knowing that the state could prove its case simply by putting the book in evidence with Mrs. Bloom’s soliloquy underlined. Who can foresee how many juries, with nothing to guide them but a common dislike for Mrs. Bloom’s interminable monologue, would find the material obscene? 1 What is to restrain an overzealous or ambitious prosecutor if he knows he can make his case so easily?
I believe that expert testimony is required by Arizona law and would mitigate these dangers. As the court correctly points out (ante at 247-49, 787 P.2d at 1043-45), A.R.S. § 13-3501 attempts to incorporate the three-part test of Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 93 S.Ct. 2607, 37 L.Ed.2d 419 (1973). The second prong requires a determination of whether the item depicts sexual activity in a “patently offensive way”. 413 U.S. at 24, 93 S.Ct. at 2615. I agree with the majority that no expert testimony is required on this issue because the average juror is as capable of determining it as any expert. See Rule 702, Ariz.R. Evid., 17A A.R.S.
However, the two remaining parts of the Miller test present different problems and mandate a different result. Miller* s first prong requires a factfinder to apply contemporary community standards in order to determine whether the item appeals to the prurient interests of the average person. Many of the cases cited at length in the majority opinion (ante at 250-52, 787 P.2d at 1046-48) indicate that a jury from a particular community may determine for itself the standards of that community. This may be the proper result under Miller and the statutes considered in those cases but is irrelevant in Arizona because our legislature requires that the factfinder use “contemporary state standards”. A.R.S. § 13-3501(2)(a).2 The majority fails to explain how a jury in any particular community can apply contemporary state standards to the allegedly obscene material without expert evidence describing contemporary standards and tastes in different parts of the state. It defies common sense to expect that a local jury will consistently intuit a statewide standard.
The result reached by the majority would not be accepted in any other type of case. Suppose, for instance, a contract obligated one party to provide goods or services conforming to the standard generally followed *254in Arizona by a particular industry or profession. In a dispute as to the quality of these goods or services, could the court permit a finding based upon nothing but the jurors’ speculation about appropriate standards? I think not. See, e.g., In re Barney Schogel Inc., 12 B.R. 697 (S.D.N.Y.1981) (expert testimony required to show customs of trade); Frigaliment Importing Co. v. B.N.S. International Sales Corp., 190 F.Supp. 116 (S.D.N.Y.1960).3 Thus, for the reasons set out by Judges Lacagnina and Livermore in the opinion and concurring opinion of the court of appeals (163 Ariz. at 318-20, 787 P.2d at 1114-16), I believe that expert testimony is essential to satisfy our statutory version of the first part of the Miller test.
A similar result is required with regard to the third part—whether the item, “taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.” 413 U.S. at 24, 93 S.Ct. at 2615. On this issue, also, expert testimony is essential to provide information without which many juries would be unable to perform their function. No doubt some juries would have difficulty in finding serious value of any kind in ULYSSES. The book is difficult at best, but is generally acknowledged to have great literary and artistic value. See, e.g., The New York Times Book Review, June 15,1986, at 3. Expert evidence on this subject is a necessity because information about serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value is not consistently within the common knowledge of the average juror.
It has always been the general rule that in such cases, the proponent of an issue cannot get his case to the jury without providing such evidence. M. UDALL & J. LIVERMORE, LAW OF EVIDENCE § 25 at 43 et seq.; Hunter v. Benchimol, 123 Ariz. 516, 601 P.2d 279 (1979). Surely, if it is not possible to prove a case of negligence against a doctor, lawyer, accountant, architect or engineer without expert evidence as to the standards of the profession, it should not be possible to prove a criminal case implicating the first amendment without expert evidence both on statewide standards and on the subject of literary, artistic, political or scientific value.
Abhorrence of obscenity does not outweigh our duty to uphold the constitutional rights of free speech and free press. The threat of unbridled and unhindered criminal prosecution is bound to have a chilling effect upon publishers, libraries, motion picture exhibitors and the like. This effect is only heightened by the threat of unpredictable and arbitrary results. When a particular book or film may be found obscene by a jury in Phoenix and the same work found not obscene by a different jury in Tucson, only the fearless will continue to distribute it in other parts of the state. Further, if we were to review such cases how could we determine what standard was applied or whether it was the proper one?
The problem is not solved by the majority’s view that the defendant may present his own expert (ante at 250 n. 4, 787 P.2d at 1046 n. 4.) and may thus exculpate himself. Our legal system still requires that the state prove its case before a defendant is put to his proof. Moreover, the cost of defense is. itself a chilling factor. The profit to be made from selling or renting a few obscure books or films each year is inconsequential compared to the financial and other costs if one is prosecuted for selling it. The pressure not to distribute marginal works overwhelms the principles and courage of all but the zealot or the wealthy.
Nor do I concur with the majority’s view that we may be protected from overzealous prosecution by the appellate bench. By the time the problems reach the appellate bench, the material will long since have been removed from the shelves. In any event, appellate judges as a group are hardly suited to determine contemporary state standards or literary, artistic or politi*255cal value. Nor was it the contemplation of the constitution, state or federal, that any special group serve as censors of what ordinary people can read, see or hear.
While a requirement of expert testimony on two parts of the Miller test would not solve all of the problems raised by obscenity prosecutions, it would certainly act as a leveling factor, forcing the authorities to consult something other than their personal taste in deciding whether to prosecute and providing some restraint on the type of cases which are filed. We must remember that while the Constitution does not protect obscenity, it does protect many types of speech which a majority may think objectionable. For instance, sexual conduct may be explicitly described and still fall within the constitutional protection of the first amendment, F. SCHAUER, supra at 41, 279, so long as it is not hard-core pornography. Id. It is not always easy to differentiate. The requirement for expert testimony would do little to hinder the prosecution of truly obscene materials but much to prevent the filing of ili-founded cases which may suppress or chill protected speech.
For these reasons I dissent from the majority decision.
GORDON, V.C.J., concurs in Justice FELDMAN’S dissent.

. A divided court held that ULYSSES should not be suppressed as an "obscene book”. Two judges held the book not obscene while one stated:
Who can doubt the obscenity of this book after a reading of the pages referred to, which are too indecent to add as a footnote to this opinion? Its characterization as obscene should be quite unanimous by all who read it.
United States v. One Book Entitled Ulysses, 72 F.2d 705, 709 (2nd Cir.1934).

. But see A.R.S. § 13-3509, effective August 13, 1986; Laws 1986, ch. 411 § 5.

. Frigaliment is a noteworthy exposition on the definition of a phrase used in a particular trade community. “The issue is: what is [a] chicken?” Plaintiff failed in its attempt to show that the word "chicken” included only young chickens suitable for broiling and frying and not old chickens suitable only for stew. Industry standards as to the meaning of “chicken” could only be established by competent expert testimony.