Court Opinion

ID: 9553280
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:27:06.130602+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:30:37.545628
License: Public Domain

*458PERRY, J.,
dissenting.
I am unable to agree with the majority that this case should be reversed. They reverse the case because of error in receiving purported expert testimony.
The district attorney who had purchased the book testified that in his opinion the book “taken as a whole has a predominant theme that appeals to prurient interests.” He admitted he had never read the book in its entirety. Therefore, he could not know the whole book and should not have been permitted to state his opinion.
However, I do not believe this error is sufficiently prejudicial to warrant a reversal. In my opinion, expert testimony in this field is not desirable. The jury is instructed as to prurient interests and the jurors should judge the issue on the basis of the writing itself under the instruction given. The district attorney did not testify that he was an expert on literary merit. It is in this field where “social value” becomes an issue of fact and expert testimony becomes admissible. Note: The Use of Expert Testimony in Obscenity Litigation, 1965 Wis L Nev at p 126.
The book itself was introduced into evidence and read to the jury. To my knowledge I have never read a book which was more dedicated to pornography. The book 'having been introduced into evidence, each juror knew without a shadow of doubt that the predominant theme of the book was in its entirety an appeal to prurient interests.
The majority state that the State “did not rely upon res ipsa loquitur.” It seems clear to me that to establish that the book was utterly lacking in redeeming social value they must have done so for no expert *459opinion was expressed upon this issue. In my opinion, no expert testimony was necessary.
I do not know nor do I believe anyone, expert or otherwise, is capable of locating the exact boundaries of that indefinable term “social value.” I presume, however, under presently acceptable standards, to rise above the lowest scale of that term, a writing must in some way be considered as tending to stimulate the mind of its reader intellectually, entertain him, teach him a moral, or possess literary style.
This book does not possess a single one of these qualities. Literarily it has the effluvium of a manure pile. It teaches no moral, educates no one, stimulates only extra-marital sexual drive and perversion, and could entertain only a moron.
In my opinion, neither a literary critic nor the average man could successfully argue there is any social value in “Lust Pad.”
This book speaks for itself. No expert testimony should be required where the obvious purpose is pure pornography.
I would affirm the judgment.