JOHN WRIGHT | Online Editor
wright@dallasvoice.com
Charges have been dismissed against most of the 11 men arrested for engaging in sex acts during a Dallas Police Department raid of The Club Dallas in October.
The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office confirmed this week that it dismissed charges against at least six of the men earlier this month. Defense attorneys for the men said they expected charges to be dismissed against the others soon.
DA Craig Watkins didn’t elaborate on why his office chose not to prosecute the cases, citing the fact that charges against at least one of the men had not yet been dismissed.
“Due to the fact that these cases are so closely related, commenting on the dismissed cases would affect the prosecution of the pending case,” Watkins said in a statement.
David Hill, a defense attorney who represents nine of the 11 men, said charges were dismissed over questions about whether The Club Dallas is defined as a public place under Texas law. Seven of the men were charged with public lewdness, three were charged with indecent exposure, and one was charged with interfering with police.
“The issue relates to whether it’s a public versus private location, so you can imagine that the decisions and the conversations I had with them [prosecutors] hinged on that element,” Hill said Wednesday, Jan. 19. “After reviewing the cases, the District Attorney’s Office made a determination that it was in the best interest of justice to dismiss the cases.”
Hill commended the District Attorney’s Office for its decision. “They were willing to take the time to look at these cases with an open mind and make a determination after having done that,” he said.
Asked whether it’s safe for people to go to the gay bathhouses, Hill said he was reluctant to offer broad legal advice. “I think everyone has to make their own decision about their own personal conduct, but I would think that the decision regarding these cases would give people some comfort about that,” Hill said. “I don’t begin to assume what DPD is going to do in the future, but I would think the fact that the cases were filed, and the result that’s come about in this case, I’m sure they have other things they’d rather spend their resources on than purusing cases that may or may not get prosecuted.”
Neither DPD Chief David Brown nor LGBT liaison officer Laura Martin responded to requests for comment.
DPD’s vice unit has said it conducted the raid in response to a citizen complaint.
A co-owner of The Club Dallas declined to comment on the dismissal of the charges.
26 Comments
I still prefer the bushes near local rest stops when I’m not out destroying the sanctity of marriage and promoting the gay agenda! (sarcasm) Congrats guys! This raid or whatever was such a bogus mess. It reminds me of the stories some of my older friends tell me about “gay witch hunts”. HOW RUDE of the DPD!
now I got Pants on da Ground stuck in my head….lookin like a foo wit ya pants on da ground!
What a waste of time. They could have been catching murder’s and thevies and instead one cop having nightmares of gay men in towels!
Are you kidding me? What year is it? Don’t the cops have REAL crime to fight? Come on!
There needs to be an monetary given to all of the defendants of false charges at an private business where behind close doors is none of the public business and is not an threat of the general welfare of the public.
But what about the reputation of the guys arrested? Their mug shots appear on the DPB website for sexual offenses.
I guess we will not be hearing from Laura Martin on this anymore. So sad that she is DPD puppet. Really what has she done for the LGBT community. I guess the Attorney General did not want to release the documents of the person who filled the “complaint” against Club Dallas. I smell something fishy!
Most criminal cases are dropped by the State attorney anyway. This is a wasteful attempt by the Dallas Police Department to close up all adult shops before the Super Bowl. I guess, in Dallas, it’s OK for Chief’s Brown son to go around killing people, as long as he isn’t gay. And then his “killer” son get a police escort to the cemetery just because daddies the Chief of the DPD. Until the citizen’s of Dallas run Chief Brown and his Command Staff out of town nobody is safe from his malfeasance.
Sadly the idea of “private” is what is really at stake.
Gay men pay money to spend time in a place where they can go around naked, shower together, jack off in a steam room, and maybe have wild monkey ass-sex that makes you holler for mama. If someone is offended, they don’t have to pay $$$ to go be near it, do they?
And anonymous complaint? On Swiss Ave? Really? Who complained? The Lizard Lounge? C’mon.
DPD had no chance of winning this case but what about the cost to the “victims” of losing time from work and the embarassment to them and their families?
DPD responded to a “citizen complaint”? Well, move me to Dallas and I’d file a complaint with them about an ex-President/war criminal that’s living in that fine city. Ya’ll think they’d do diddly squat about it? Harassment, plain and simple.
To Planes drifter, No one else’s wanted the criminal! He had to put a shit load of money into the city and build a library here. I don’t think he is here much in Dallas.. he stays most likely in his bunker in Crawford. I live about 1 1/2 miles away from him and you can tell when hes’ in town due to the military helicopters doing fly bys and the added police up and down the street I live on. Funny, I still think he was Chaney’s puppet in all this mess.
The raid as in the past like StoneWall and other persecutions’. Brought the community together and we did not let our own differences divide us on this issue of privacy and freedom. Although some queens condemn that type of place.. I think they see the need for it in socitey and wrongness of the raid. The retired old conservative fossil who is the occasional writer for the Voice came around to the wrongfulness of the raid.
Yea!
It is obvious to me that the “citizen” who complained is some troll who was rejected when he went in for his round of sex. This has been the consensus of everyone I’ve had a conversation with about the matter.
I certainly hope the DPD does come to an understanding that this is not a public establishment, but an exclusive one that does not allow women or the under aged. Just consenting, adult, like-minded men who know exactly what they will see and intend to do behind those guarded doors.
What a waste of resources! It’s a private club. I’ve never wanted to go to a bathhouse, but that’s why I don’t drive over there, buy a membership and go in. I’m several steps ahead of the DPD. If you don’t want to see gay men having sex in the showers, don’t go to a bathhouse. If you don’t want to see strippers, don’t go to a strip club. If you don’t want to see nude sculptures and paintings, don’t go to the museum. Live and let live. It’s a free country. No one is forcing anyone to go to a bathhouse. I don’t believe that there was ever a citizen complaint. It’s just state-sponsored police harassment of gays.
I’m so sick of this “pickin on the gays” crap…it’s a sex-oriented business. OF COURSE, it’s gonna get raided by the police…it’s what they do. Sex-oriented places with illegal activity get raided ALL the time in Dallas but you don’t hear about them b/c they are outside of the LGBT bubble….just be glad you don’t get raided once a month like some of the places in northwest hwy/harry hines area….puh-lease!
It is a sad sad shame that OUR SO-CALLED LIASON LAURA MARTIN declined comment. She is nothing more than an individual being controlled by the DPD. She did NOT care one bit about the Men in this case at all. She is being PAID to keep HER MOUTH SHUT. I thought a Liason was there to open communitcations between ALL parties involved. She is nothing more than a GO-TOO Girl. They say Go do this and Go do that and she Jumps. Because if she did speak up against the DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT, she would be FIRED. Once again the DPD has proven themselves to be BULLY’S. They always have been and they always will be. ” WE” the Gay Community should NOT let them get away with this. WE should DEMAND explinations on ALL ACCOUNTS and make them Talk. Infact, make ALL of those who refuse to comment, speak up. This is discrimination at it’s finest. Laura Martin really needs to go find a job where she doesn’t get in the way of ALL those men trying to do what is wrong. Laura Martin the Silent Liason refuses to Speak. Now that’s worth talking about.
Indeed, Tisha! A sex-oriented business gets raided by the police, gay or straight. Fact of life, always will be. I think the comments slamming Officer Laura Martin personally are so out of line as to be laughable if they weren’t so libelous. They’re over-the-top out of line, unfair, and flat-out wrong. I’ve worked with Laura for many years now in a lot of different facets of her job as DPD’s LGBT Liaison Officer, and I’ve never known her to be anything but absolutely professional at all times. She is fair, meticulous, & exacting in her work for DPD and for our community, and skillfully juggles a wide array of (often competing) interests on a daily basis. I, for one, do not believe for a minute that she did not return a call to the Voice, as this article strongly implies.
@Patti: I spoke with Laura Martin on Tuesday. She said she’d get back to me. She never did. I also spoke to Chief Brown. He said he’d get back to me. He never did. They’ve had more than three days to respond to my requests for comment, but they have not done so. Regardless of how you feel about the raid, that’s a fact.
sounds like the shit that goes on in ft. worth,has come a calling in dallas!
We are in the process of gathering accurate information regarding the facts of the dismissal of the charges against some of the men arrested. We are being asked to make a comment regarding future enforcement at Club Dallas. Due to the large number of arrests, and the fact that several cases are still pending prosecution, we are not able to make that determination at this time. I will continue to update the community when we are able to add to this story.
Patti Fink seems to be the credible person regarding this article. Articles written with personal bias and sensational self-pity always seem to find someone to bully or some group to blame. I can see why Martin wouldn’t want to return the reporter’s phone calls.
“Neither DPD Chief David Brown nor LGBT liaison officer Laura Martin responded to requests for comment.”
Translated: we need more time to find a way to weasel our way out of this.
“Fight Organized Crime. Abolish the DPD.”
There was no complaint. The DPD did this to harass and cause trouble for gay men as they do at all previous Club Dallas arrests.
Do they ever go to a strip club and get a lap-dance then arrest everyone at the club for that?
So, How cum the cops never hit Midtowne Spa? Sounds like some money is being moved around.
Because that’s where the off duty cops hang out. They (the DPD) have to protect their own.