Is a booth at an Bookstore a public place?

easytiffany · #1 11th July 2007, 10:08 AM

If I am in a booth with another person at an adult bookstore and we have sex with the door locked can I be arrested in Colorado?

mfosteresq · #2 11th July 2007, 08:55 PM

My response is not Colorado-specific, but based on general constitutional principles and my experience in defending these type of cases in the California courts.

The supreme law of the land is the Constitution of the United States. The 4th Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. The remedy for illegally seized evidence (which can be what the officer viewed) is its exclusion from evidence.

The constitution protects people, not places or things. The issue turns on whether the charged person had an objectively reasonable expectation of privacy. Generally, a closed and locked booth door shows an individual's intent to have privacy --- and that individual would have both a subjectively and objectively reasonable expectation of privacy.

There is a long line of public restroon and video booth cases in California that have examined this issue. These cases have generally disallowed spying or observations from unusual vantage points. The police need to have the right to be where they are when the illegal act is observed. Essentially, this burden is on the police to prove. We have brought many evidence suppression motions on these types of facts.

There is nothing per se illegal about sharing a booth with someone, but this has a major proviso: Local ordinances, such as the one in Sunnyvale, California, often prohibit occupancy of a viewing booth by more than one person at a time. While this is enforceable against the establishment, it gives law enforcement a plausible reason to conduct site investigations. You might want to check your local ordinances (usually,signs or verbal instructions of "one to a booth" is a good indicator).

In short: A locked booth in a bookstore is one of the most constitutionally-protected places used by cruisers, but nothing is 100%.

Specific200 · #3 22nd October 2007, 03:21 AM

What about two booths both locked, but joined by a GH? What then?

Grumpybear · #4 24th August 2009, 10:40 PM

When you enter a video booth and drop a token, you are in one sense "renting" the booth for the period of time provided by the token. We are advised that we can not disturb a customer with the door locked and a movie playing UNLESS we have responable belief that an ordiance is being violated. The most common reasons are sounds of the booth or the chair inside being damaged; ie: repeated loud bangs, video gate alarm from being opened, or smell of smoke (smoking inside a public building is a State of NY fine of $5,000 or more).

If you are standing in a booth with the video playing and choose not to close your door, and there is no public display of sexual behavior; the police can not interfer with you.

However, if you are standing in the hallway or loitering in a booth without the movie playing, the police can charge you with loitering for sexual purposes in New York State. If you are in the booth and do not have the door closed and are exposing yourself or engaging in any type of sexual activity; you can be arrested for public indecency. The store has no authority to waive this rule. Of course, engaging in sexual activity in the hallway or right out in the open on the sales floor (yes, they do that sometimes) or in the parking lot is simple; go to jail, do not collect $200.