This city’s smoking ban is constitutional, a municipal judge ruled this morning.

But Judge Randy McGrath signaled that prosecutors will have a tough time enforcing the law — finding Lawrence club owner Dennis Steffes not guilty in four of five cases where he was charged with letting customers of Coyote’s and Last Call smoke in violation of the ban.

McGrath said prosecutors had not proven that Steffes knew about and ignored the smoking in those four cases.

“Neither side is going to be happy with this verdict,” McGrath said.

McGrath sentenced Steffes to a $100 fine and $42 court costs each on two complaints from an Aug. 28 incident at Coyote’s.

Steffes said he would appeal the case to Douglas County District Court, meaning the constitutional challenge to the smoking ban will continue. The ban started July 1.

For more on this story, see the 6News reports at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Sunflower Broadband’s channel 6 and pick up a copy of Saturday’s Journal-World.