SALT LAKE CITY – A federal judge excused Salt Lake City's police chief from a lawsuit filed by escort services that argue a Utah law makes it too easy for undercover police to make prostitution arrests.
U.S. District Court Judge Dee Benson said police Chief Chris Burbank wasn't a central figure in the dispute over whether the law goes too far. Utah's attorney general remains a defendan
Utah law had defined solicitation as a person agreeing to have sex for money. But an amendment last year broadened it to include any person who performs acts such as exposing or touching themselves.
An attorney for the escort services argued Wednesday that the law makes it a crime for a stripper to merely expose private parts during a dance.
"We're talking about a person who takes off her clothes for a living," said Andrew McCullough, who is representing Baby Dolls Escorts, Companions LLC and TT II. "My clients have a license for that."