Court upholds
prostitution conviction
based on illegal arrest

The Hawaii Supreme Court upheld the prostitution conviction of an exotic dancer yesterday for performing a lap dance, even though the justices determined that her arrest had been illegal.

Honolulu police arrested Mary Ann Keawe on Aug. 14, 2002, during a raid of a Kona Street strip club for a lap dance she performed for an undercover police officer on July 25. On Jan. 22, 2003, she was convicted in Honolulu District Court.

The high court found that because police had waited 20 days to arrest Keawe, they should have obtained an arrest warrant.

Keawe had asked the court to throw out the arrest and dismiss the case.

The justices said that the remedy for an illegal arrest is to throw out the evidence obtained in the arrest. But because the prosecution's evidence was solely the undercover officer's observations, they said, there is no evidence to toss out.

"I find that disturbing, that there is no remedy (for the illegal arrest)," said Earle Partington, who filed a brief on the case with the Supreme Court on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Keawe's attorney, William Harrison, said the lower courts put on hold at least 200 similar cases pending yesterday's decision. He represents the defendants in about 150 cases.

"The injustice is they (the dancers) cannot remember what happened. They cannot challenge the officer's statement. The officers can make up whatever they want," Harrison said.

Harrison and Partington said they believe that most, if not all, of the remaining cases will be dismissed because police will not be able to identify the defendants in each case.

The Hawaii Supreme Court ruled in 1998 that sexual contact for a fee, even through clothing, constitutes prostitution.