Home > Great American Court Cases > Cincinnati v. Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center

Legal Citation: 566 N.E.2d 214 (1990)

Plaintiff
State of Ohio

Defendants
Dennis Barrie and the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center

Plaintiff's Claim
That the exhibition of photographs by the artist Robert Mapplethorpe was obscene.

Chief Lawyers for the Plaintiff
Richard A. Castellini, Frank H. Prouty, Jr., and Melanie J. Reising

Chief Defense Lawyers
Marc D. Mezibov and H. Louis Sirkin

Judge
F. David J. Albanese

Place
Cincinnati, Ohio

Date of Decision
5 October 1990

Decision
The jury found the five photographs in question not to be obscene.

Significance
The acquittal of the Mapplethorpe defendants was a major reaffirmation of First Amendment freedom of speech protection in the realm of homosexual art.

In the spring of 1990, the Contemporary Arts...