(A) No person shall import, print, publish, exhibit, display, sell or distribute any book, pamphlet, ballad, printed paper, stereopticon slide, moving picture film, or other thing, containing obscene language or any obscene prints, figures, pictures, or descriptions manifestly tending to the corruption of the morals of youth, or introduce into any family, school, or place of education, or buy, procure, receive, or have in his possession any book, pamphlet, ballad, printed paper, steropticon slide, moving picture film, or other thing, either for the purpose of sale, exhibition, loan, or circulation, or with the intent to introduce it into any family, school, or place of education. Whenever any police officer arrests any person charged with any offense under the provisions of this division, he shall seize the book, pamphlet, ballad, printed paper, picture, slide, film, or other thing, and take it into his custody to await the sentence of the court upon the trial of the offender.
('58 Code, § 31.34) (Ord. 571, passed - - )
(B) A person commits the offense of distributing obscene materials when he sells, lends, rents, gives, advertises, publishes, exhibits, or otherwise disseminates to any person any obscene material of any description, knowing the obscene nature thereof, or who offers to do so, or who possesses such material with the intent so to do.
(1) Material is obscene when the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law; and the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
(2) Material, not otherwise obscene, may be deemed obscene under this section if the distribution thereof, or the offer to do so, or the possession with intent to do so is a commercial exploitation of erotica solely for the sake of prurient appeal.
('58 Code, § 31.65) (Ord. 70-49, passed 9-15-70) Penalty, see § 10.99
Cross-reference:
Indecent behavior, see § 133.01
Confiscation of obscene materials, see § 133.06