A federal appellate court has upheld Roy city's sexually oriented business ordinance, striking defeat for the owner of an adult novelty store.

In a ruling issued late Tuesday, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the managers of Dr. John's could still operate the business under a sexually oriented business license. The ruling upheld a lower court's decision that found Roy's ordinance did not forbid Dr. John's from operating a business in the city, but rather required that the business apply for a special business license for sexually oriented businesses.

"The city may seek to require Dr. John's to operate under an SOB license rather than under a general business license, but nothing in its licensing structure gives it the authority to prevent Dr. John's from doing business at all," the appellate ruling states. "So long as Dr. John's is willing to operate under an SOB license and to comply with its terms, the City has no authority to restrain its business operations or its speech."

Attorneys for Dr. John's and its owner, John Haltom, argued that Roy's ordinance was too restrictive and unconstitutional.

The ruling comes after the Utah Supreme Court struck down a challenge by Dr. John's against a similar ordinance by Midvale city in May 2003.

Regarding Roy's ordinance, the 10th Circuit did note the city's argument that its ordinance was designed to also prevent "secondary effects" resulting from SOBs lacked sufficient evidence as to what those effects would be. Because of this, the city could not justify its ordinance under that argument.

Legal troubles have also followed the adult novelty chain's owner. John Haltom was convicted by a jury of selling harmful material to a minor in August 2000 after Midvale police sent a 17-year-old operative into the store to purchase an adult video.

According to police, the girl was asked for photo ID by a store employee. When the employee noticed the girl was a minor he asked Haltom to confirm if the ID was authentic. Haltom admitted he looked at the ID but allowed the sale of the video. He was later arrested and charged and sentenced to 30 days in jail and probation.

In his appeal, Haltom said the format of the ID was confusing and that he was entrapped by police. In August of last year, the Utah Court of Appeals denied Haltom's appeal to have his conviction overturned.

Haltom, who still owns the stores in Midvale and Roy, also owns four in Nebraska, one in Iowa, one in Colorado and two in Missouri.

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E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com