by A judge has rejected a defence argument that using undercover officers in a Regional Police prostitution sting was an abuse of process.
Female police officers posed as prostitutes during the operation in downtown Sydney.
73 year-old John Russell Mercer was one of 27 men charged with soliciting a prostitute in “Operation John Be Gone.”
In court yesterday Mercer changed his plea to guilty.
The guilty plea will now allow his lawyer T.J. McKeough to argue the police operation amounted to entrapment.
The case will resume on November 15th to hear Crown and defence submissions on the matter.