Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 27, 1993 TAG: 9303270180
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A decision has been delayed on the cases of those arrested under the law but not yet tried, Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell said.
Monday, Circuit Judge Clifford Weckstein dismissed a soliciting indictment against Paul Holt, a transvestite accused of propositioning a police informant on Salem Avenue Southwest.
Holt's attorney had argued that the solicitation ordinance - used to convict dozens of prostitutes in recent years - was invalid because it was more restrictive than a similar state law.
Although Weckstein did not strike the ordinance in its entirety as Holt had requested, the ruling raises questions about how the law will be used - if at all - in the future.
A handful of cases, including one that had been scheduled to go to court Thursday, have been postponed while officials evaluate the law.
"It's still on the books, but we're not going to use it until we can see how this ruling affects it," Caldwell said.
Roanoke lawyer Michael Hart, who represented Holt, had argued that the ordinance was inconsistent with state law.
Specifically, state law requires that for someone to be convicted of attempted prostitution, there must be a "substantial act in furtherance" of the offer, such as the exchange of money or preliminary sexual activity.
The city ordinance requires no "substantial act" - in effect allowing people to be convicted based solely on what they say.
In dismissing the charge against Holt, Weckstein said in a written opinion that the ordinance passed in 1990 by City Council has served to "lighten the prosecution's burden" in prostitution cases.
City Council, which has once before amended the anti-solicitation ordinance after it was found to be used disproportionately against gay men not involved in prostitution, may be asked to take further action.
City Attorney Wilburn Dibling said this week that his office is assessing the impact of Holt's case. "I don't think the community approves of soliciting for sex for money in public," he said.
But in dealing with criminal cases, he said, "it's sometimes two steps forward and one step back."
The ordinance makes it a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail, to offer or accept an offer of sex for money in a public place.
by CNB