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California Indecent Exposure Defense Attorney

California Law: Indecent Exposure

California Penal Code 314

California Penal Code Section 314 defines the crime of indecent exposure. The offense is committed when a person exposes himself to a third party who might thereby be offended, when the exhibitionist is seeking to arouse himself sexually or to annoy others by virtue of the attention.

Under California law, conviction of the crime of indecent exposure, Penal Code Section 314, requires registration as a sex offender.

Below is the California Judicial Council's jury instruction defining Indecent Exposure:

The defendant is charged with indecent exposure.

To prove that the defendant is guilty of this crime, the People must prove that:

1. The defendant willfully exposed his genitals in the presence of another person or persons who might be offended or annoyed by the defendant's actions;

[AND]

2. When the defendant exposed himself, he acted lewdly by intending to direct public attention to his genitals for the purpose of sexually arousing or gratifying himself or another person, or sexually offending another person;

Someone commits an act willfully when he or she does it willingly or on purpose. It is not required that he or she intend to break the law, hurt someone else, or gain any advantage.

It is not required that another person actually see the exposed genitals.

Penal Code Section 314

LESSER INCLUDED OFFENSES

Indecent exposure is a misdemeanor if the defendant does not have qualifying priors and the alleged event did not occur in an inhabited dwelling. (Pen. Code, § 314.) If the defendant is charged with one of the factors that elevates the offense to a felony, then the misdemeanor is a lesser included offense.

Soliciting anyone to engage in lewd or dissolute conduct in any public place (see Pen. Code, § 647(a)) is not a lesser included offense of indecent exposure under Penal Code section 314, subdivision 1.

RELATED ISSUES

Presence of Others

"[A] conviction for indecent exposure under Penal Code section 314, subdivision 1 requires evidence that a defendant actually exposed his or her genitals in the presence of another person, but there is no concomitant requirement that such person must actually have seen the defendant's genitals." (People v. Carbajal (2003) 114 Cal.App.4th 978, 986 [8 Cal.Rptr.3d 206].)