Harold Eugene Wenzler, Jr. v. Peter Pitchess, Sheriff of Los Angeles County

Wenzler was convicted of violating the California obscenity law, Penal Code, § 311.2. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and a fine of $500.00. He appealed, unsuccessfully, and also sought writs of habeas corpus from the California courts, again unsuccessfully. Having exhausted his state remedies and been taken into custody, he turned to federal habeas corpus. His petition was denied, after a hearing, and he appeals.

The basic facts are not disputed. Wenzler operated a moving picture theatre in Pasadena, featuring “nudie” type moving pictures. At the lobby candy counter, he sold 8 mm. moving pictures for home use. The offense was the sale of such film. Jacobellis v. State of Ohio, 1964, 378 U.S. 184, 187-188 , 84 S.Ct. 1676 , 12 L.Ed.2d 793 , requires that the court in which a first amendment right to publish is asserted must itself read or view the material in question. The district judge saw the film. We have also seen it. He also read the transcript of the trial, in which Wenzler was convicted by a judge, sitting without a jury. We have also read it. The district judge concluded that the film is “hard core pornography,” and that Wenzler has not been deprived of a…