573.090. Video cassettes, morbid violence, to be kept in separate area--sale or rental to persons under seventeen prohibited, penalties. - Missouri Statutes

Video cassettes, morbid violence, to be kept in separate area--sale orrental to persons under seventeen prohibited, penalties.

573.090. 1. Video cassettes or other video reproductiondevices, or the jackets, cases or coverings of such videoreproduction devices shall be displayed or maintained in aseparate area if the same are pornographic for minors as definedin section 573.010, or if:

(1) Taken as a whole and applying contemporary communitystandards, the average person would find that it has a tendencyto cater or appeal to morbid interest in violence for personsunder the age of seventeen; and

(2) It depicts violence in a way which is patently offensiveto the average person applying contemporary adult communitystandards with respect to what is suitable for persons under theage of seventeen; and

(3) Taken as a whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic,political, or scientific value for persons under the age ofseventeen.

2. Any video cassettes or other video reproduction devicesmeeting the description in subsection 1 of this section shall notbe rented or sold to a person under the age of seventeen years.

3. Any violation of the provisions of subsection 1 or 2 ofthis section shall be punishable as an infraction, unless suchviolation constitutes furnishing pornographic materials to minorsas defined in section 573.040, in which case it shall bepunishable as a class A misdemeanor or class D felony asprescribed in section 573.040, or unless such violationconstitutes promoting obscenity in the second degree as definedin section 573.030, in which case it shall be punishable as aclass A misdemeanor or class D felony as prescribed in section573.030.

(L. 1989 H.B. 225 § 1)

(1992) Where statute attempted to regulate expression was not drafted with precision and clarity and did not contain definitions of prohibited conduct so that people of common intelligence might guess at the meaning of the statute, statute is unconstitutionally vague. Video Software Dealers Assn. v. Webster, 773 F.Supp. 1275 (W.D.Mo.).