Speight v. Slaton

I must respectfully dissent from the court’s decision not to intervene in the state court proceedings.

First, I feel it is necessary to set out in detail exactly what the state is seeking in this proceeding. Over a period of time agents of the state, apparently posing as customers, bought a number of “adult” books from the Harem Bookstore in southwest Atlanta. These items constituted the core of the evidence against the bookstore and its owners. The state first sought to prosecute the owners of the Harem Bookstore in a criminal proceeding under the state’s obscenity laws.1 The trial before a…