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CHAPTER 43. PUBLIC INDECENCY
SUBCHAPTER A. PROSTITUTION
§ 43.23. OBSCENITY.
(a) A person commits an offense
if, knowing its content and character, he wholesale promotes or
possesses with intent to wholesale promote any obscene material or
obscene device.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (h), an offense under
Subsection (a) is a state jail felony.
(c) A person commits an offense if, knowing its content and
character, he:
(1) promotes or possesses with intent to promote any
obscene material or obscene device; or
(2) produces, presents, or directs an obscene
performance or participates in a portion thereof that is obscene or
that contributes to its obscenity.
(d) Except as provided by Subsection (h), an offense under
Subsection (c) is a Class A misdemeanor.
(e) A person who promotes or wholesale promotes obscene
material or an obscene device or possesses the same with intent to
promote or wholesale promote it in the course of his business is
presumed to do so with knowledge of its content and character.
(f) A person who possesses six or more obscene devices or
identical or similar obscene articles is presumed to possess them
with intent to promote the same.
(g) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this
section that the person who possesses or promotes material or a
device proscribed by this section does so for a bona fide medical,
psychiatric, judicial, legislative, or law enforcement purpose.
(h) The punishment for an offense under Subsection (a) is
increased to the punishment for a felony of the third degree and the
punishment for an offense under Subsection (c) is increased to the
punishment for a state jail felony if it is shown on the trial of the
offense that obscene material that is the subject of the offense
visually depicts activities described by Section 43.21(a)(1)(B)
engaged in by:
(1) a child younger than 18 years of age at the time
the image of the child was made;
(2) an image that to a reasonable person would be
virtually indistinguishable from the image of a child younger than
18 years of age; or
(3) an image created, adapted, or modified to be the
image of an identifiable child.
(i) In this section, "identifiable child" means a person,
recognizable as an actual person by the person's face, likeness, or
other distinguishing characteristic, such as a unique birthmark or
other recognizable feature:
(1) who was younger than 18 years of age at the time
the visual depiction was created, adapted, or modified; or
(2) whose image as a person younger than 18 years of
age was used in creating, adapting, or modifying the visual
depiction.
(j) An attorney representing the state who seeks an increase
in punishment under Subsection (h)(3) is not required to prove the
actual identity of an identifiable child. |
