A federal judge has ruled that Oklahoma City police acted unconstitutionally when they seized videotapes of the Academy Award-winning movie The Tin Drum last summer.
Officers confiscated copies of the 1979 film in June after Oklahoma County District Judge Richard Freeman said it contained child pornography. The ACLU responded with a lawsuit citing the lack of a search warrant or written court ruling (see American Libraries, Aug. 1997, p. 17).
U.S. District Judge Ralph Thompson ruled December 24 that police illegally removed the film from public access, reported the Associated Press December 27. "Before public officials take such action, they must first provide the interested parties an opportunity to present their contentions, evidence, and legal arguments for consideration before a court," Thompson wrote. He reserved a decision on whether the film is child pornography, setting a trial on that issue for April.
Posted January 5, 1998.