SHORT TAKES : Obscenity Conviction Reversed

A jury Thursday reversed the conviction of a music store owner found guilty last year of violating obscenity laws for selling a rap music tape with sexually explicit lyrics.

A jury of nine men and three women deliberated about an hour and a half before finding Tommy Hammond innocent of the misdemeanor charge. The case centered around a tape titled “Move Somethin”’ by the rap group The 2 Live Crew.

Hammond, the owner of Taking Home the Hits music store in Alexander City, had been convicted and fined $500 for violating the city’s misdemeanor obscenity ordinance in a nonjury trial, but under state law was allowed to take the case before a jury.

Prosecutors claimed the tape, which included lyrics with graphic descriptions of sodomy, sadomasochism and human genitalia, violated the city’s 1983 obscenity ordinance.

According to attorneys and legal experts, Hammond would have been the first person convicted in a jury trial of selling obscene recordings. His lawyers said a guilty verdict would have put a chill over the entire recording industry, with artists and record companies becoming reluctant to release any material that might be deemed offensive.

Hammond, who stopped selling the tape after his arrest, said he would continue to sell recordings by The 2 Live Crew but probably not the release that landed him in trouble.

“I don’t know if I will ever sell the tape again,” he said. “I think I’ve had enough of ‘Move Somethin.’ ”