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162 Ind. App. 155

Mohney v. State

Indiana Court of Appeals

Decided November 7, 1974

Indiana Court of Appeals · decided 1974-11-07

Cited by 2 later decisions — most recently May 1980

2 state decisions

Relies on Miller v. California · Court v. Wisconsin · Stroud v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1974-11-07

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Garrard, J.

¶1Defendant was convicted under four counts of the sale of obscene materials in violation of IC 1971, 35-30-10-1, Ind. Ann. Stat. § 10-2803 (Burns 1956 Repl.).

¶2Following the grant of certiorari in Stroud v. Indiana (1973), 413 U.S. 911, 93 S.Ct. 3038, 37 L.Ed.2d 1025, our Supreme Court declared this statute unconstitutional. Mohney v. State (1973), 261 Ind. 56, 300 N.E.2d 66; Stroud v. State (1973), 261 Ind. 58, 300 N.E.2d 100.

¶3The state, however, argues that those cases involved the sale of obscene materials, while the case before us should be considered as a conviction of offering for sale. This assertion is simply not supported by the record. However, even if it were, it would be of no consequence.

¶4The factor in Miller v. California (1973), 413 U.S. 15, 97 S.Ct. 2607, 37 L.Ed.2d 419, expressly adopted by our Supreme Court in Mohneyand Stroud determining the unconstitutionality of the act in question is its failure to be sufficiently specific in defining the sexual or obscene acts which would constitute a violation of the statute. The defect is of no less significance in offering to sell than in an actual sale.

¶5Judgment reversed with instructions to discharge the defendant.

¶6Hoffman, C.J. and Staton, J., concur.

¶7NOTE. — Reported at 318 N.E.2d 372.

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