Court Opinion

ID: 9590314
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:53:42.227574+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:13:39.877220
License: Public Domain

Justice Meyer
dissenting.
Today the majority finds the language of N.C.G.S. § 14-190.1 ambiguous and concludes, applying the rule of Bell v. United States, 349 U.S. 81, 99 L.Ed. 905 (1955), the Court must resolve this ambiguity in favor of lenity toward the defendant. I find no ambiguity, and for that reason I must dissent.
*445The language of our statute shows a legislative intent to punish the sale of each separate obscene item, i.e., each separate magazine, film, book, etc. First, after a general statement that it is “unlawful ... to intentionally disseminate obscenity,” a definition of “disseminates obscenity” follows. That definition lists items which may be obscene; and, significantly, every item is a singular noun, e.g., “writing,” “picture,” “record,” “representation,” et al. Second, the statute uses the word “any” repeatedly. The adjective “any” is inclusive, signifying that sales of single items of obscenity are to be punished. Finally, the statute makes no express provision for the sale of multiple items that are sold as part of a single transaction; e.g., the statute does not provide that a person disseminates obscenity if he sells “writing(s), picture(s), record(s).” That language would be evidence of an intent to punish each transaction, rather than each sale of each separate item.
N.C.G.S. § 14490.1(a), in pertinent part, provides:
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person ... to intentionally disseminate obscenity. A person . . . disseminates obscenity within the meaning of this Article if he . . .:
(1) Sells . . . any obscene writing, picture, record or other representation or embodiment of the obscene; or
(3) Publishes, exhibits or otherwise makes available anything obscene; or
(4) . . . [S]ells . . . any obscene still or motion picture, film, filmstrip, or projection slide, or sound recording, sound tape, or sound track, or any matter or material of whatever form which is a representation, embodiment, performance, or publication of the obscene.
(Emphasis added.)
Construing similar language in the Virginia anti-obscenity statute, the Supreme Court of Virginia has held that a defendant may be charged with separate counts for each obscene item sold, even if the items are sold in a single transaction. Educational Books, Inc. v. Commonwealth, 228 Va. 392, 323 S.E. 2d 84 (1984). *446Like the North Carolina statute, the Virginia statute at issue in Educational Books, Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-374 (1988), prohibits the sale of “any” obscene item. Also like our statute, the Virginia Code provides that “obscene items” shall include “any obscene . . . book, . . . magazine, . . . picture.” Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-373 (1988). Also, like our statute, the Virginia provision lists singular nouns in its definition of “obscene items”: “book,” “magazine,” “picture,” et al. Further, like our statute, it does not expressly provide for the punishment of the sale of multiple items that are sold as part of a single transaction: e.g., “book(s), magazine(s), picture(s), etc.” In the face of this clear statutory language, the Supreme Court of Virginia held that this statute shows unmistakable legislative intent to punish the sale of each obscene item. After thoughtful study of North Carolina’s similar statute and using similar reasoning, our own Court of Appeals found unmistakable legislative intent to punish the sale of each obscene item sold in North Carolina. State v. Smith, 89 N.C. App. 19, 365 S.E. 2d 631 (1988). Other courts have held that the dissemination of several obscene items in a single transaction will support multiple convictions. See City of Madison v. Nickel, 66 Wis. 2d 71, 223 N.W. 2d 865 (1974) (defendant convicted of four violations of a local ordinance prohibiting the sale of obscene magazines; all four magazines purchased at the same time and by the same person).
The majority’s interpretation of the statute gives no consideration to the relative harm done by the store clerk selling a single obscene item and the store clerk selling 100 different obscene items in a single transaction. The number of potential “readers” increases geometrically with each additional item sold. The legislature could not have intended the seller to receive the same punishment regardless of the number of items sold in a single transaction.