LEXINGTON, KY – Hustler Hollywood will have to wait until September to find out if a Fayette County District Court will set aside an earlier verdict that found a local Hustler store guilty of violating local zoning ordinances. Judge Megan Lake said that she would rule on the store’s request to set aside the verdict at a hearing on September 8th.Tucker Richardson of Lexington, an attorney for the store, contends that during the trial, the city did not prove Hustler Hollywood was an adult bookstore, and that the definition of “adult bookstore” submitted to the jury was incorrect.
The six man jury took less than an hour on May 13th to return a guilty verdict, finding that the store violated a law prohibiting sexually oriented bookstores, video stores and other entertainment centers at interstate highway exchanges in Fayette County. The fine for the violation was $250.
Richardson said that it wasn’t the amount of the fine that bothered the store’s owner, Jimmy Flynt, but “the principle of the thing.”
“As soon as they found out that there was going to be a Hustler store out there, they tightened up this definition,” Richardson said. “This definition is overwrought. You can’t do that.”
The store made its dismissal request after the trial, and filed an appeal in Fayette County Circuit Court. Their appeal is on hold, pending Thornton’s ruling; if Thornton rules against Hustler Hollywood, Richardson said, the store would resume that appeal.
City attorneys chose not to file a response to the store’s district-court motion. Thornton said, because the response wasn’t filed, she had not reviewed documents regarding the case before the hearing, and said she wanted to read the case documents again before making her ruling.
Richardson said that because the city didn’t file a response, “Obviously, in my eyes, they’re conceding our argument.”
