(1)  Any material or performance is pornographic if:

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Terms Used In Utah Code 76-10-1203

  • Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
  • Conduct: means an act or omission. See Utah Code 76-1-101.5
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Person: means an individual, public or private corporation, government, partnership, or unincorporated association. See Utah Code 76-1-101.5
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
(a)  The average person, applying contemporary community standards, finds that, taken as a whole, it appeals to prurient interest in sex;

(b)  It is patently offensive in the description or depiction of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, sadomasochistic abuse, or excretion; and

(c)  Taken as a whole it does not have serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

(2)  In prosecutions under this part, where circumstances of production, presentation, sale, dissemination, distribution, exhibition, or publicity indicate that the matter is being commercially exploited by the defendant for the sake of its prurient appeal, this evidence is probative with respect to the nature of the matter and can justify the conclusion that, in the context in which it is used, the matter has no serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

(3)  Neither the prosecution nor the defense shall be required to introduce expert witness testimony as to whether the material or performance is or is not harmful to adults or minors or is or is not pornographic, or as to any element of the definition of pornographic, including contemporary community standards.

Amended by Chapter 92, 1977 General Session