Indecent Exposure on Your Own Property

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Quoting Taxing Matters

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But he was viewed from a neighbor’s house, not a public sidewalk or street. That neighbor’s house is not a “public place” either. You’d have to really contort the definition of “public place” to fit that into what the OP described.

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He was in his yard, not just in his house (although he would also stand naked in front of the window). His yard was visible from the street, or whoever happened to be in the vicinity. It was fully and completely visible to all that happened to pass by. The "street" was not very busy, as it was located in a neighborhood with very little traffic or passerbys other than those that live there. So, it was public in that sense. He was in his own yard though. To the best of my knowledge he never wandered out into the street naked, although I can't be certain since I only heard what she told me.

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Quoting Taxing Matters

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But he was viewed from a neighbor’s house, not a public sidewalk or street. That neighbor’s house is not a “public place” either. You’d have to really contort the definition of “public place” to fit that into what the OP described.

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He would still appear in public if he was viewable from any public vantage point. I'll not get into the argument of whether a falling tree makes a sound of there is nobody there to hear it.

But if you read all the posts again there was nothing said about the viewer being in his home or on his own property. It simply said the nude guy was named in his yard and in his house where he could be seen through a window.

Were any of the callers willing to go on record as a complainant and sign a private person's arrest?

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Quoting jk

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He would still appear in public if he was viewable from any public vantage point.

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If that was the intent, then I would think that the legislature would have written it much like it did the section immediately preceding it, § 245.00, which covers lewdness: “A person is guilty of public lewdness when he intentionally exposes the private or intimate parts of his body in a lewd manner or commits any other lewd act (a) in a public place, or (b) in private premises under circumstances in which he may readily be observed from either a public place or from other private premises, and with intent that he be so observed.”

Since the legislature knew how to make it clear that an act committed on private property but viewable from either a public place or from a private premises is forbidden, I would expect it would have drafted § 245.01 the same way if that’s what it intended. That it didn’t would indicate that the exposure law in § 245.01 is more limited in scope in terms where the nude person must be to violate the law than for violating the lewd behavior prohibited in § 245.00. If I were defending him in court this is one of the arguments I would use, since differences in similar statutes like this are a common method courts use to interpret a statute if the court finds the statute is not clear on its face.

I'll probably regret typing this, but here we go ...

Are we seriously up in arms about seeing a naked human? I can't walk around naked in my back yard in case Deb-the-Hawks-Fan from across the street might see me and be offended?

I'm offended by the suggestion that I have to curb my nakedness (apparently that's a real word ... huh ...) on the off-chance that someone might see me. We're fine watching intense violence on the TV, but we're freaking about seeing a naked human?

Baffling.

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Quoting Dogmatique

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I'm offended by the suggestion that I have to curb my nakedness (apparently that's a real word ... huh ...) on the off-chance that someone might see me. We're fine watching intense violence on the TV, but we're freaking about seeing a naked human?

Baffling.

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There are many things I think America does better than the Europeans, but in this area I think they tend to have the better perspective: they don’t get nearly so worked up about sex and nudity as Americans, and they are much more worked up about violence than Americans. I’d rather we do more to curb violence and care a bit less about a neighbor being naked or the sex habits of consensual adults.

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Quoting Taxing Matters

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There are many things I think America does better than the Europeans, but in this area I think they tend to have the better perspective: they don’t get nearly so worked up about sex and nudity as Americans, and they are much more worked up about violence than Americans. I’d rather we do more to curb violence and care a bit less about a neighbor being naked or the sex habits of consensual adults.

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That's exactly where I'm coming from *rapid nodding head emoji*

(I'm the resident Brit, for those who don't know)

Having investigated some of these guys, if he truly is flashing the neighborhood, surely there's a law that can be applied. I'm going to guess that either there was some element of the offense missing, no one would sign the private person's arrest, or the law is unreasonably permissive.

Some time back I dealt with a guy who struck the Captain Morgan pose in his living room window and on his back patio on a daily basis. His activity subjected everyone to his berries and twig and caused a number of parents to have to keep their kids inside as a result. We have laws on the books against this, fortunately, so we did manage to finally get a signer and made an arrest (when he finally opened his door).

There's a difference between casually strolling about the house nude and flaunting it knowing full well that you are visible to the world. The former is a mistake - the latter is uncomfortable and generally criminal.

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Quoting cdwjava

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Having investigated some of these guys, if he truly is flashing the neighborhood, surely there's a law that can be applied. I'm going to guess that either there was some element of the offense missing, no one would sign the private person's arrest, or the law is unreasonably permissive.

Some time back I dealt with a guy who struck the Captain Morgan pose in his living room window and on his back patio on a daily basis. His activity subjected everyone to his berries and twig and caused a number of parents to have to keep their kids inside as a result. We have laws on the books against this, fortunately, so we did manage to finally get a signer and made an arrest (when he finally opened his door).

There's a difference between casually strolling about the house nude and flaunting it knowing full well that you are visible to the world. The former is a mistake - the latter is uncomfortable and generally criminal.

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I had to Google "Captain Morgan pose".

:eek:

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Quoting Dogmatique

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I had to Google "Captain Morgan pose".

:eek:

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Eeee-yeeeahh ....

His actions so concerned one of the neighbors that she would not leave work to come home (she waited tables at night at Denny's) until her husband got off work at Wal-Mart at 11 PM. He'd stand in the window and then come out the front door with shorts ON as she ascended the stairs to the apartment next to his. It freaked her out ... and the other neighbors as well. The guy was smart, though. He'd never answer the door when we'd knock, or, if he did, it would be times when we had no one who was willing to sign - mostly because they were young women or kids who were afraid of him.