Stormy Daniels had herself a bit of an adventure Wednesday night into Thursday, thanks to Ohio police, but it won’t stop her from going back to the scene of the “no crime” at the strip club Sirens tonight, according to her lawyer Michael Avenatti.
Daniels was arrested on three counts of violating statute 2907.40(C)(2) (also known as the Community Defense Act), which prohibits dancers from touching patrons. Daniels had been accused of touching police officers, including the breasts and buttocks of a female officer. Charges were later dismissed.
Avenatti said Daniels “will return to the scene of the ‘no crime’ tonight in Columbus, Ohio as scheduled. She never ceases to impress!”
Apparently, two other dancers were arrested along with Daniels, but have not had their charges dropped. Daniels said that whatever tips she gets tonight are going towards their legal fees.
According to the motion filed by the Columbus City Attorney’s office on Thursday, there was no probable cause to move forward with a case against Daniels.
Posecutors recognized a weakness in the case due to the wording of the statute. The law states that the prohibition against touching customers applies to a performer “who regularly appears nude or seminude on the premises.” The prosecution acknowledged in their motion that there is no evidence that Daniels regularly performs there, and thus, the charges should be dropped.
Law&Crime’s Ronn Blitzer correctly predicted earlier Thursday that charges would be dropped against Daniels:
This may seem like a clear violation of a law that prohibits touching, but the language of the statute may provide a work-around for Daniels. The applicable section of the law, 2907.40 Section (C)(2) states:
“No employee who regularly appears nude or seminude on the premises [emphasis ours] of a sexually oriented business, while on the premises of that sexually oriented business and while nude or seminude, shall knowingly touch a patron who is not a member of the employee’s immediate family or another employee who is not a member of the employee’s immediate family or the clothing of a patron who is not a member of the employee’s immediate family or another employee who is not a member of the employee’s immediate family or allow a patron who is not a member of the employee’s immediate family or another employee who is not a member of the employee’s immediate family to touch the employee or the clothing of the employee.”
Avenatti told Law&Crime that he “raised this with prosecutors at 7:30 am this morning.” It worked.
UPDATE: Avenatti later tweeted that there’s been a “change of plans” and that Daniels would be going elsewhere.
Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.
[Image via Tara Ziemba/Getty Images]
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