Carlton County Attorney Thom Pertler filed notice this week that he will appeal a judge's dismissal of a prostitution solicitation charge that resulted from an Internet sting.
Sixth Judicial District Judge Dale Wolf dismissed the gross misdemeanor charge of soliciting prostitution against Ronald D. Scinocca Jr., 56, of Duluth on Dec. 21, based on the argument that a hotel room does not qualify as a "public place."
According to state statute, solicitation of prostitution in a public place is punishable as a gross misdemeanor, while prostitution in a private place is prosecuted as a misdemeanor.
Pertler said Tuesday that he disagrees with the ruling. "That's just wrong, to say a hotel is not a public place, and I'm taking it up," he said.
Scinocca was one of nine men accused of hiring, offering or agreeing to pay to engage in prostitution in a public place following a year-long, multi-agency investigation and sting operation in Cloquet.
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Authorities received information that men had been looking to hire prostitutes via the Internet. All of the suspects were arrested at a Cloquet hotel on June 29 after police said they observed them offering money to women posing as prostitutes in return for sexual services.
The issue of whether a hotel room should be considered a public or private place became the focal point of arguments in August during a contested omnibus hearing. Scinocca's attorney, Andrew Pierce, argued that, although a hotel or motel may be considered a public place, the individual rooms should be considered private.
In the memorandum accompanying his decision, Wolf said the word "hotel," as it is included in the definition of a public place, is ambiguous because it could simply mean the areas of the building open to the public or it could mean the entire building. "When the language of a criminal law is ambiguous," wrote Wolf, "the court must construe it narrowly in favor of the defendant."
Wolf said the purpose of the gross misdemeanor law is to reduce the amount of visible prostitution by making public prostitution a more serious crime. Wolf reasoned that a closed-door hotel room is not visible to the public.
Wolf also pointed out that the definition of a public place has been amended twice in recent years to include "a motor vehicle on a public street" and steam rooms, massage parlors, shopping malls and other public shopping areas. Wolf said since the court did not include the term "hotel room" in those clarifications, it is not up to the court to make that assumption.
Wolf concluded that there was insufficient evidence to show the crime occurred in a public place as required in the gross misdemeanor provision of the statute, and he ruled that Scinocca's charge be dismissed.
Pertler said he patently disagrees with Wolf's conclusions, and he now has 30 days to file his brief in the appeal on behalf of the county attorney's office.
"I don't want this to set a precedent for the entire state of Minnesota, and I'm prepared to go to the mat on this," said Pertler. "I am confident that the court of appeals will agree with us."
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All of the other defendants in the prostitution arrests have reached plea agreements in their cases and have been sentenced accordingly.
