Grand Jury Convenes This Week To Look At Wichita Adult Businesses

Sept. 18

The debate over sex and the city is heading to a grand jury after thousands of people sign a petition to ban adult businesses in Wichita.

Pastor Pete Domingez says he and all the other Operation Southwind adult business opponents will use the law to permanently shut down seven Wichita businesses, including Zigfields.

Operation Southwind officials won step one in this shutdown process back in August .when they received more than 6,000 signatures on a petition.

Pastor Domingez says, "That says to me there are that many people against obscenity, especially the pornography outlets here in Wichita and Sedgwick County."

Now, the order to summon a grand jury to investigate if the seven named adult businesses are indeed promoting obscenity, will be carried out.

Defense Attorney Warner Eisenbise says, "It all revolves around what our community standard of pornography is."

Eisenbise says the Wichita obscenity standard will ultimately be defined by the grand jury.

"These 12 to 15 jurors will sit through about a week's worth of prosecution evidence and secret testimony, where the defense cannot ask questions or even play a role."

Eisenbise says the burden is on state to show the grand jury, just as it would at a preliminary hearing, that there is enough evidence to show that there is a probability that crime was committed and that the defendent committed the crime.

While KAKE News tried calling three of the seven named business, no officials would comment.