Anaheim Drops Charges Against Lap Dancers

Anaheim officials on Tuesday dropped prostitution charges against seven lap dancers whose 2-year-old case briefly put the city in the spotlight in the ongoing legal battle between adult entertainment businesses and communities seeking to restrict them.

“Hopefully this will be the last chapter in a long path that has cost taxpayers a lot of money and my clients a lot of anxiety,” said Roger Jon Diamond, the attorney for the women.

The dancers were arrested in 1997 after undercover police officers videotaped them performing dances for customers of the Sahara Theater, a strip club.

The scantly clad women brushed their bodies against the fully clothed patrons.

They were convicted on charges of prostitution and of violating a city ordinance that bans touching between exotic dancers and their customers. State law does not require that sexual intercourse occur for prostitution charges to be filed.

But the 4th District Court of Appeal reversed the convictions in September, saying the jury in the case was wrongly instructed not to consider lap dancing a form of artistic expression. It also struck down the city’s no-touching ban, saying it went too far by criminalizing such actions. Last month, the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case, meaning the women could be retried only on the prostitution charges.

“We decided we would not be able to prove the case based upon the standards that the [appeals] court had created,” Anaheim City Atty. Jack L. White said.

Cities across the nation have long sought to restrict and even ban adult entertainment businesses. They have met with mixed results in the courts, which have ruled that such establishments are protected by the 1st Amendment but are nonetheless subject to reasonable regulations.

Anaheim, home to five nude cabarets and topless bars, has been one of the more aggressive regulators in the state. In another case last year, the same appellate court ruled that the city unfairly denied a permit to another adult theater operator.

White said the city will continue to apply its standards stringently.