Video Store Owner Faces Obscenity Charge In New England’s First Technological Front Crackdown

A neon-lit video rental store called 'Video Haven' is illuminated at night, showcasing movie covers in its window. The street is wet from rain, reflecting colorful lights, and a police car with flashing lights is parked nearby, adding to the urban nighttime atmosphere.

For the first time in New England, a town has charged a video store with obscenity for selling adult videos, taking the war on smut to a new technological front. The town of Norwood filed the criminal complaint against Daina Laverty, 29, owner of Video Haven on Washington Street, for renting and selling sexually explicit videos, after she refused a police order to stop. If convicted under a state obscenity law, she could be sent to prison and fined up to $30,000.

“This is the first time we’ve had something like this in New England,” said Frank Lucca, president of the New England Video Software Dealers Association. “We’ve had legislation come up before against adult videos, but we’ve never had police walk into a store and try to arrest anyone.” The ramifications could be widespread. There are thousands of video stores operating in Massachusetts that sell adult videos. Laverty said adult videos accounted for 20 to 30 percent of her business.

Rick Karpel, director of government affairs for the video dealers, said the Norwood crackdown came as a surprise. Several video store owners described the town’s action as an unconstitutional restraint on free expression. “Massachusetts is a pretty liberal place,” said Karpel, adding that most obscenity charges against video store owners have originated in southern states such as Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. “When you start hearing it happening in Massachusetts, it is somewhat alarming.”

Significant obscenity cases in the past have involved books, records, movies, plays and art, but not videotapes, which are mostly played at home. The proliferation of VCR-equipped television sets has spawned the video store business and that, in turn, has led to the widespread rental of adult videos. Exactly what makes a videotape obscene is a gray area under the law. A 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling said that obscenity can be defined by community standards and is not automatically protected under the First Amendment.

The Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts said the Norwood case amounts to censorship and that it will assist in the store owner’s defense. Video Haven was the only Norwood business to refuse the police request to stop carrying adult tapes. Three other video stores – Buck’s Place, Sights and Sounds, and Leisure Time – agreed to comply with the police order. Outside those stores yesterday, a majority of video renters interviewed objected to the police action. Out of 12 video customers randomly interviewed, only one supported the police action. “I don’t think people should be able to rent that stuff,” one man said as he emerged from Video Haven. “I’m against that type of thing in society.”

Others, including those who rent adult videos, expressed surprise and even outrage at the crackdown. “It’s utterly ridiculous,” said Howard Finer, 23, a Leisure Time customer. He said he has rented adult videos at other stores. “If a customer wants to rent something like that, they should be able to. Just because there are a few people who don’t want to see it, that’s no reason others can’t.”

Ray, a 56-year-old Norwood man who asked that his last name be withheld, rents adult videos once a month from Video Haven. Yesterday he saluted Laverty. “If I was the owner of a business and someone walked in and told me how to do business, I’d tell them to go jump in a lake,” he said. “I don’t believe anybody has the right to tell you what you do in your own home.” The National Video Software Dealers Association said it may join Laverty’s defense. The New Jersey-based organization is the largest trade association for video store owners and claims to have about 20,000 members. On a national level, the association has seen a growing number of obscenity cases involving video stores during the past five years, Karpel said.