Gordon Schindler v. United States

Schindler was indicted on ten counts for sending obscene matter through the mail. At the first trial, conviction stood on Counts Nine and Ten. Appeal was taken to this Court, and the conviction was affirmed. Schindler v. United States, 208 F.2d 289 , certiorari denied 347 U.S. 938 , 74 S.Ct. 633 , 98 L.Ed. 1088 . Mistrial or new trial having been granted on all remaining counts, a second trial was had on these charges, which resulted in conviction on five counts. The sentence was for four months’ imprisonment and $1,000 fine on two respective counts and probation on the remainder.

Count Two, on which there was a separate sentence, charged the depositing in the Los Angeles, California, Post Office, for mailing, of a postcard addressed to a person in Bell Gardens, California, bearing an advertisement of the obscene books. Defendant makes no point of this feature. The use of the mails in the same state constitutes an offense even if interstate commerce is not involved.

Schindler raises several questions:

It is objected that the trial court erred (a) in failing to permit the source books to be introduced in evidence, and (b) in refusing to permit J. B. Tietz, Esq., to testify on…