Sexy dance after $40 drinks was not prostitution, high court rules

A bar employee who performed a "dirty dance" with a customer after the Honolulu Police Department undercover officer bought her two $40 drinks did not commit prostitution because the state did not prove the employee performed the dance in exchange for the drinks, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled today.

The opinion overturns the December 2006 conviction of the Club Sara Lee employee.

During the trial in Honolulu District Court, the officer testified he bought the woman several $40 drinks on July 24, 2006. After he purchased two of the drinks, he said, the woman asked him to dance in a manner that would qualify as "sexual contact" under state law. Both he and the woman remained clothed during the dance.

Police arrested the woman and charged her with prostitution two and a half months later.

The district judge found the woman guilty and sentenced her to six months of probation and fined her $500.

She appealed to the state Intermediate Court of Appeals, which upheld the conviction.

But the Hawaii Supreme Court said because the woman did not offer to "dirty dance" with the undercover officer in exchange for the $40 drink and there was no agreement between the two that the drink was a fee for the dance, the woman did not commit prostitution.

The justices also pointed out that the woman did not indicate after the dance that she performed it in exchange for the drink and that she did not dance with the officer after he bought her a third $40 drink.
May 25, 2010
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