The changes in the morals of American society of the 1960s and 1970s and the general receptiveness to the public to frank discussion of sexual issues was sometimes at odds with local community standards.

On January 13, 1972, the local police served a search warrant on the theatre, and seized the film.

In March 1972, the theatre manager, Mr. Jenkins, was convicted of the crime of "distributing obscene material".

The court said, Our own viewing of the film satisfies us that Carnal Knowledge could not be found ... to depict sexual conduct in a patently offensive way.

There are occasional scenes of nudity, but nudity alone is not enough to make material legally obscene ... Appellant's showing of the film Carnal Knowledge is simply not the "public portrayal of hard core sexual conduct for its own sake, and for the ensuing commercial gain" which we said was punishable ...