# Brief for the Petitioner — Redrup v. New York

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URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/brief%3Amicro_IA40385001_0912%3A04

## Record

- **Collection:** Supreme Court brief
- **Document type:** Brief for the Petitioner
- **Published:** January 1, 1967
- **Citation:** 386 U.S. 767

## Text

‘SUBJECT INDEX

. Page .

SD SION in cxreicsstesnspsssletnaternttininechaibaieineiiatetianasaiaiian 1
Jurisdiction ...........-.---- kcal = a 2
Question. presented .............. cihanieadiapieengigaieiihamianenmainn 2
- Constitutional and statutory provisions involved ...... 2
SIE Ee CI eiticicccttrpetnionnnt
SUMMALry Of AFYUMEN .........--cecceceieccecerereceneerereeqeeneeene | 6
Argument sii SEIN ey Ree RIF ret nT 9

_ The state statute, as construed and applied to au-

thorize the conviction of the petitidner herein
without proof that the petitioner had knowledge
of the contents or the alleged obscenity of the
books involved, deprives petitioner of his liberty
without due process of law, and abridges the

exercise of freedoms of speech and press, con-’

trary to the due process and free speech and
press provisions of the First and Fourteenth
Amendments. . ieidisuienlapminiabedl

EES Ieee ER I TE SO ST

Appendix A. Constitutional provisions and statutes
I sankaecneeienieaninitnthtenneigiciapnqnciajaigilaniteminssiiitsiiia App. p.

3 ~ Manual Enterprises, Inc. v. Day; 370 U.S. 478 ....15, 19

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES CITED

e Cases ' Page )
Baumgartner v. United States, 322 i 2 fa 18
Blackburn v. Alabama, 361 TN TN cihcitsesincien 12 !
Edwards v. South Carolina, 372.U.S, 229 ............12, 19 |
Fiske v. Kansas, 274 U.S. 380 ............cccescscesseees ee |
_ Garner v. Louisiana, FOO WS. TSF concecconcsees euscvennenaenes 14
Gonzales v. Landon, 350 U.S.920 -....csissecsess- essessneeeo 19
Hartzel v. United States, 322 U.S. 680 -ce.csecccecsossso0 16 |
Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 ceecccscccccsccscsscecssssseee 9 13 |
Keegan v. United States, 325 U.S. 478 co.cc. 17 -
Larkin v. G. I. Distributors, .14 N.Y. ‘24 399, 252
N.Y.S. 2d 71; 200 N.E. 2d 760 ceesssssscsssssssseccccceceee 20

Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264 .......-c.eciecsesssseeseeeeseeens 12
New York Times Co., et al. v. Sullivan, 376, U.S.

254 ... ‘ti vgld 15
Niemotko v. Mariail 340 U. 1S, 268° sian Niasieaouctlin 12

_ Noto v. United States, 367 U.S. 290 oeccececccsees no |
People v. Richmond County News, 9 N.Y. 2d.578, | |
- 216 N.Y.S. 2d 369, 175 N.E. 2d 681... eecscsecceeecen » !
Roth-v. United States, 354,U.S. 476 ......ce-css0e0- ae 10
Schneiderman v. United States, 320 U.S. 118 .......... 19

Schware v. Board of Bar Examiners, 353 U.S. 232 7 14

- Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham, 382 YS. 87 .. 14
Smith v. California, 361 U.S. 147 ....6, 10, 16, 21, 22 —
Taylor v. Louisiana, 370 U.S. 154 eevee toecomee, 14

_ Thompson v. City of Louisville, 362 U.S 199 13, 14

1

United Mine Workers of America v. Gibbs, 383 U.S.
© “FED pantsbeicansanimnctgusiien stincinoonenedaieceeneieneneneneveenergavesecseuen 19
Wood v. Georgia, 370 8 SR eee 19
| | Statutes - . °
New York Penal Law, Sec. 1141(1) ........ oan CI
_ United States Code, Title 28, Sec. 1257(3) ...!.-eew-- 2
United States Constitution, First Amendment ..........
PORE con KOE are idan: Tk a ba tm Se
United States Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment
= aiasiidiabacpnaiiaiinaiic ssenioiiicleel scaiedieicliatiadielnatie 2, 6 9, 32, 15, 41,
. Textbook
4 Wigmore, Evidence (3rd Ed.'1940), Sec. 1056 ...... 21
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Appeals: “of New
: opinion.

IN THE

Supreme Court of the United States

October Term, 1966
No. 3

Rosert Reprurp, ~

J Petitioner,
US. ,

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE or NEw York,

Respondent.

On Writ of Certiorari to the Appellate Term of the Su-
preme Court of New York, First Judicial Department.

BRIEF FOR THE PETSPIONER. |

Opinions Below.

The action was tried in the Criminal Court Pe the
City of New York, County of New York. No opinion
was rendered by the three-judge court’ before whom
the action was tried, except the statements at the con-”.

‘ clusion of the trial finding peti ‘oner guilty as charged

(R. 23, 25-26), and suspending sentence (R. 24).
» F our-
teenth Amendment. Moreover, the judgment ‘of con-
viction, resting on an inadequate record to prove scienter
and mens rea, violates’ the spirit and letter of the de-

‘cision of this Court in Smith v. California, 361 U.S.

147, The vaguertess of. the statute, as construed and a

applied by the state court to the petitioner herein, re-.
sults in a pervasive censorial restriction on freedom of.

5 F ‘sill

expression, compelling the same self-censorship by book-.
sellers which this Court noted in- Smith v. California.
- The broad protections of freedoms of speech and press
* would, it is submitted, be. seriously endangered if a
judgment of conviction J an obscenity: prosecution were
to be sustained on flie basis of the meager and flimsy
evidence presented in the record herein in support of —
charges of guilty knowledge and unlawful intent:

< big tee. —Conclusion.
The Jatin should be reversed.
_ Respectfully submitted,
| STANLEY FLEISHMAN,
' Counsel for Petitioner.

_. Osmond K. FRAENKEL, ae
@ SAM ROSENWEIN, |
Of Counsel.

.
‘ 4

a aw en

.
~— Ce eae Se ene Toe

| _ APPENDIX A,
Constitutional Provisions and Statutes Involved.

1. The. pertinent provisions of the First Amend-_

ment to ‘the United States Constitution are:

“Congress shall make fo law. . oc the
freedom of speech, or of the press;.. .”

2 “The pertinent provisions of the’ Femi
Amendment to the United States Constitution are:

“No. State shall . . . deprive any person of life,

liberty, or property, without due tem of law;

9
.

re The pertinent provisions of New York Penal
| Law, Section 1141, are:

“gl 141. Obscene Prints and Articles

1. A person who sells, lends, gives away, dis-

' . tributes, shows. or transmutes, ‘os ffers to sell,
lend, give away, distribute, show or transmute, or
has ‘in his possession with intent to sell, lend, dis-
tribute, give away, show or transmute, .. ."or who
otherwise offers for loan; ‘gift, sale or distribu-
tion, any obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, indecent,

. Sadistic, masochistic or disgusting book . . . draw-

ing, photograph spine picture film, figure, im- ~

age,... cy 3
“Is guilty. of a misdemeanor. . . .” .
(As amended L.: 1950, ¢.623, §§1-3; L. 1950, ¢:

624; L.1954, c.703; L.1955, c.837; 1.1956, cc.423, -

661, 662, 681; 1.1957, c.690; °L.1958, cc.735,
736, eff. July 1, 1958, L.1958, c.737, $81, 2 eff.
July 1, 1958 . . . a.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/brief%3Amicro_IA40385001_0912%3A04. Public record. Not legal advice.