A DeKalb County judge ruled the owner of a now-closed sex toy shop in Brookhaven won’t have to serve time behind bars or pay hefty fines.
Michael Morrison was sentenced to six months in jail and was ordered to pay $420,000 in fines after he was found in contempt of court multiple times during the lengthy legal battle with Brookhaven. Stardust, Morrison’s store, closed after the city adopted a law in 2013 making it illegal to operate a “sexually oriented business” near a similar business or a residential district.
For the past eight years, Morrison and the city have been entangled in a legal battle, but Judge Mark Anthony Scott ordered last week that the penalties against Morrison were too steep.
“I’m not sure why it got this far to where I had this exorbitant fine and this jail sentence,” Morrison told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. “...The fine was excessive, and there’s no way for me to pay it.”
In addition to the judge, Morrison can partly thank the COVID-19 pandemic for his lesser sentence. Scott, who initially handed out Morrison’s sentence, said people convicted of violating municipal codes shouldn’t fill up county jails in legal paperwork filed last Friday.
“Since the time that the criminal fine was imposed, the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the court’s judgment about the necessity, or propriety, of sentencing individuals to the DeKalb County Jail for failure to comply with orders relating to non-violent municipal code violations,” the order read. “The conditions at the jail and the risk to the safety of Morrison, other inmates and jail employees are paramount concerns for the court.”
Stardust opened on Buford Highway in 2013 — shortly before Brookhaven adopted its stricter law curbing sex shops. Stardust was located across the street from an apartment complex and next to the Pink Pony strip club, which pays a fee to the city to remain open.
The city’s ordinance regulating sexually oriented businesses has been challenged in court but was ultimately upheld. Morrison, who now owns the Tokyo Valentino sex shops in metro Atlanta, said he expects Brookhaven to appeal the recent ruling. In a statement, city spokesman Burke Brennan seemed to indicate the lengthy legal battle might be over.
“The city of Brookhaven recognizes the underlying context of the court’s decision. Penalties are the prerogative of the court,” the statement said. “...the illegal activity has been discontinued. Those were always the city’s fundamental goals: to defend its lawful ordinances and to adhere to the Rule of Law.”
Morrison questioned whether residents believe the entire ordeal was worth it.
“Is it the right thing to do for the citizens of Brookhaven? Absolutely not,” he said. “You’ve already spent a million dollars to close a store, and now it’s been replaced by a vape shop. It just defies logic.”
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