Minnesota Session Laws - 1988, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1988 

                        CHAPTER 406-S.F.No. 236 
           An act relating to obscenity; prohibiting the 
          distribution and exhibition of obscene materials and 
          performances; prescribing penalties; amending 
          Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 617.241. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 617.241, is 
amended to read:  
    617.241 [OBSCENE MATERIALS AND PERFORMANCES; 
DISTRIBUTION AND EXHIBITION PROHIBITED; PENALTY.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [DEFINITIONS.] For purposes of this 
section, the following terms have the meanings given them:  
    (a) "Obscene" means that the work, taken as a whole, 
appeals to the prurient interest in sex of the average person, 
which portrays patently offensive and depicts or describes in a 
patently offensive manner sexual conduct and which, taken as a 
whole, does not have serious literary, artistic, political, or 
scientific value.  In order to determine that a work is obscene, 
the trier of fact must find: 
    (i) that the average person, applying contemporary 
community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, 
appeals to the prurient interest in sex of the average person; 
    (ii) that the work depicts patently offensive sexual 
conduct specifically defined by clause (b) in a patently 
offensive manner; and 
    (iii) that the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious 
literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.  
    (b) "Patently offensive Sexual conduct" includes means any 
of the following depicted sexual conduct:  
    (i) An act of sexual intercourse, normal or perverted, 
actual or simulated, including genital-genital, anal-genital, or 
oral-genital intercourse, whether between human beings or 
between a human being and an animal.  
    (ii) Sadomasochistic abuse, meaning flagellation or torture 
by or upon a person who is nude or clad in undergarments or in a 
sexually revealing costume or the condition of being fettered, 
bound, or otherwise physically restricted on the part of one so 
clothed or who is nude.  
    (iii) Masturbation, excretory functions, or lewd 
exhibitions of the genitals including any explicit, close-up 
representation of a human genital organ.  
    (iv) Physical contact or simulated physical contact with 
the clothed or unclothed pubic areas or buttocks of a human male 
or female, or the breasts of the female, whether alone or 
between members of the same or opposite sex or between humans 
and animals in an act of apparent sexual stimulation or 
gratification.  
    (c) "Community" means the political subdivision from which 
persons properly qualified to serve as jurors in a civil 
criminal proceeding are chosen.  
     (d) "Work" means "material" or "performance." 
     (e) "Material" means a book, magazine, pamphlet, paper, 
writing, card, advertisement, circular, print, picture, 
photograph, motion picture film, videotape, script, image, 
instrument, statue, drawing, or other article. 
    (f) "Performance" means a play, motion picture, dance, or 
other exhibition performed before an audience. 
    Subd. 2.  [CRIME.] It is unlawful for any a person 
knowingly, knowing or with reason to know its content and 
character, to: 
    (a) exhibit, sell, print, offer to sell, give away, 
circulate, publish, distribute or attempt to distribute any 
obscene book, magazine, pamphlet, paper, writing, card, 
advertisement, circular, print, picture, photograph, motion 
picture film, play, image, instrument, statue, drawing, or other 
article which is obscene material; or 
    (b) produce, present, participate in, or direct an obscene 
performance. 
    Subd. 3.  [PENALTY.] Any A person violating any provision 
of this section shall be fined up to $10,000 for the first 
offense and up to $20,000 for the second or a subsequent offense 
subdivision 2 is guilty of a gross misdemeanor and may be 
sentenced to imprisonment for not more than one year, or to 
payment of a fine of not more than $3,000, or both. 
    Subd. 4.  [SECOND OR SUBSEQUENT VIOLATIONS.] Whoever 
violates the provisions of subdivision 2 within five years of a 
previous conviction under that subdivision is guilty of a felony 
and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than two 
years, or to payment of a fine of not more than $10,000, or both.
     Sec. 2.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
    Section 1 is effective June 1, 1988, and applies to crimes 
committed on or after that date. 
    Approved March 10, 1988