Lungren Cited for Contempt : Court: Attorney general faces jail if he continues to enforce law that judge had blocked.

California Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren has been threatened with jail time if he fails to comply with a contempt-of-court order issued against him Thursday by U.S. District Judge Manuel Real in Los Angeles.

Real found Lungren in contempt for enforcing a law that bans the sale of so-called “adult publications” in news-rack vending machines.

The judge--who earlier had issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting enforcement of the 1994 law--ordered Lungren to inform district attorneys and sheriffs throughout the state to halt all prosecutions under the statute.

David Grosz, an attorney representing publishers, distributors and vendors of the sexually oriented publications, said Real warned that if Lungren fails to comply with Thursday’s contempt order by 4 p.m. Monday, the state’s highest-ranking law enforcement officer will be summoned to the judge’s court in Los Angeles, fined $1,000 a day and “be imprisoned until he complies.”

Lungren was represented in court Thursday by Deputy Atty. Gen. Christopher Foley. Neither Foley nor Lungren could be reached for comment.

The law was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Pete Wilson last April with the purported intent of making it more difficult for sexually explicit materials to fall into the hands of minors.

The publishers, distributors, vendors and a reader promptly filed suit, contending that the statute violates constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech. Saying most of their sales come from vending machines, they argued that the statute was intended to put them out of business.

Responding to the suit, Real issued an emergency order on Dec. 19 that blocked the law from taking effect on New Year’s Day. Two weeks later, he issued the injunction, which bars enforcement of the statute until the constitutionality issue is resolved.

Ignoring the injunction, Kern County sheriff’s deputies seized 17 coin-operated vending machines containing sexually oriented publications on March 6.

The plaintiffs complained to Lungren about the seizures. When Lungren failed to respond to their satisfaction, they took their complaint to Real.

Foley argued Thursday that Kern County law enforcement officials are not bound by the injunction, saying that it is limited to the counties named in the lawsuit--Ventura, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. He contended that it is not the attorney general’s responsibility to see that the injunction is obeyed statewide.

Real disagreed and issued his contempt order.