Judge Upholds Law Regulating Adult Video Booths

A city law stripping the doors from video booths inside Spokane’s adult arcades survived another legal test Monday.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Michael E. Donohue rejected a legal challenge to the ordinance, ruling that the 3-year-old ban on closed-door booths doesn’t violate free speech rights.

Two years ago, a federal judge made a similar ruling in another lawsuit.

Police and anti-pornography proponents pushed for the ordinance, saying the video booths often conceal drug deals, prostitution and other lewd and illegal behavior.

The law also requires the arcades to remodel floor plans so customers can be seen from a single spot near the front of the business. The arcades and their managers must obtain special licenses.

There must be at least one employee on duty in the public room next to the arcade. In addition, the buildings cannot be dimly lit.

Book City, Inc., which owns Pretty Girls and East Sprague Adult Book Store in the Valley, sued the city in January 1994, arguing that the ordinance amounts to “an invalid restriction” of free speech and creates an unreasonable financial burden.

Based on evidence presented by the city, Donohue said “the combination of ordinance requirements do achieve the desired result … without seriously impacting or restricting free speech rights.”

Penny Lancaster, a Spokane anti-porn activist, applauded Donohue’s decision.

“The purpose of the ordinances is for the public’s health, safety and welfare,” Lancaster said in a prepared statement.

Jack Burns, a Bellevue, Wash.,-based attorney who represents Book City, declined to comment.

, DataTimes