(A) Elements of the offense. A person commits obscenity when, with the knowledge of the nature or content thereof or recklessly failing to exercise reasonable inspection which would have disclosed the nature or content thereof, he or she:
(1) Sells, delivers or provides, or offers or agrees to sell, deliver or provide any obscene writing, picture, record or other representation or embodiment of the obscene;
(2) Presents or directs an obscene play, dance or other performance or participates directly in that portion thereof which makes it obscene;
(3) Publishes, exhibits or otherwise makes available anything obscene;
(4) Performs an obscene act or otherwise presents an obscene exhibition of his or her body for gain;
(5) Creates, buys, procures or possesses obscene matter or material with intent to disseminate it in violation of this section, or of the penal laws or regulations of any other jurisdiction; or
(6) Advertises or otherwise promotes the sale of material represented or held out by him or her to be obscene, whether or not it is obscene.
(B) Obscene defined.
(1) A thing is obscene if, considered as a whole, its predominant appeal is to prurient interest; that is, shameful or morbid interest in nudity, sex or excretion, and if it goes substantially beyond customary limits of candor in description or representation of those matters.
(2) A thing is obscene even though the obscenity is latent, as in the case of undeveloped photographs.
(C) Interpretation of evidence.
(1) Obscenity shall be judged with reference to ordinary adults, except that it shall be judged with reference to children or other specially susceptible audiences if it appears from the character of the material or the circumstances of its dissemination to be specially designed for or directed to such an audience.
(2) In any prosecution for an offense under this section, evidence shall be admissible to show:
(a) The character of the audience for which the material was designed or to which it was directed;
(b) What the predominant appeal of the material would be for ordinary adults or a special audience, and what effect, if any, it would probably have on the behavior of the people;
(c) The artistic, literary, scientific, educational or other merits of the material, or the absence thereof;
(d) The degree, if any, of public acceptance of the material in this state;
(e) Appeal to prurient interest, or absence thereof, in advertising or other promotion of the material; and
(f) Purpose of the author, creator, publisher or disseminator.
(D) Prima facie evidence. The creation, purchase, procurement or possession of a mold, engraved plat or other embodiment of obscenity, specially adapted for reproducing multiple copies, or the possession of more than three copies of obscene material shall be prima facie evidence of an intent to disseminate.
(1994 Code, § 27-3-3) Penalty, see § 130.999