Obscenity Case Exam Adjourned After Part of Movie Is Shown

Obscenity Case Exam Adjourned
After Part Of Movie Is Shown

The Municipal Court exami-| The defendants are Ellen ^^m.G^^ the unlTy@y^Lal^^cHoS^^''The Flaming
nation of three University stu-[Frank of 725 Haven Ave., Marv'ArT'n'WWKwe Auditorium oir- tlwWfcwer'iaBybeen show ;.
dents and their faculty adviser E. Barkey of 328 E. University I night of Jan. 18. Detective Lt. about 8:15 p.m. The only wil
on charges of showing an ob- Ave. and Elliott S. Barden oii Eugene 1.. Staudenmaicr inter- ness placed on the stand dur-
scene'film was adjourned for 1002 Packard St., all U-M stu-'ruptcd the showing of the filming the 120 minutes of testimo-
three weeks yesterday after the dents, and Hubert Cohen, an and confiscated it. Two days ny was Staudcnmaier.
fi) ••-.' n .rl of the film was shown English instructor in the School later the three students, identi- He was called by Prop"^"<
it irtroom. of Engineering, fied by police as officers of the ing Attorney William F

Judges T ^M r; iv-f'prpd the The four are charged with C i n e m a Guild, and Prof. Co-hey. Under direct examhiu.,.
examinatii n til showing an "obscene, lewd, fil-hen, faculty adviser tor the Staudenmaier told of seizing th
iFeb. 22 to pennii !.?ea!i Robblthy and indecent motion pie- Guild, were arrested on the ob- film after going to the Architec-
and William Goodman, defense Lure." The movie in question scene film charge. • |(ure Auditorium to investigate
attorneys, to pre;)('./e 'briefs to is called "The Flaming Crea-' Yesterday's examination be-igeveral citizen complaints thg
isupport their conifntion of ille-tures" and was being shown by|gan at 5:40 p.m. and was ad- |i.he film was obscene. ,
Igal search and seizure, a student organization^the <'i" jo-irned short after a 15-mm j r»elhey introduced as evidenc
literature on the film and other
films which Staudenmaier said
he had acquired on the night ofj
the seizure. I

Robb and Goodman put Staud-
enmaier under a searching
cross-examination when Dclhey
attempted to enter the film it-
self as Peoples' Exhibit 4. Tho
' defense attorneys demanded the
' detective give a "standard oft
: obscenity" for seizure of-4laa»|

• film and tell the court how he
» knew the film would shock
i "contemporary c o m m u n-

- ity standards."

'I The defense lawyers' probes
1 were met with repeated objec-
I lions from Delhey who said their
"I questions were immaterial and
said the film "would speak for'
itself^' Judge Elden sustained;

the objections and pointed out
it was the court's province to
determine what actually arej
the contemporary standards of
the community.

The judge also overruled re-
peated defense objections to a
showing of the film. With an
Ann Arbor fireman at the pro-
jector, the first section of the
movie was shown.

About 20 spectators watched
the film. It was stopped at the
point where Staudenmaier had
ordered it halted at the Archi-
tecture Auditorium.

After the showing Robb told
the court that films now being
shown in Detroit "go much
[farther" than does the "Crea-
i| tures" movie.

"Even the rape scene had a
degree of fantasy," the defense
counsel said. He said it "def-
initely is not hard-core porno-
.Igraphy."