State v. Romero

1 Citing case

  1. Wisneski v. State

    398 Md. 578 (Md. 2007)   Cited 24 times
    Reviewing cases from other jurisdictions construing the common law and interpreting Maryland's common law crime of indecent exposure as requiring a public exposure that "was observed, or was likely to have been observed, by one or more persons"

    For some, the classification of the location as "private" is dispositive, as Wisneski asserts. Courts in Indiana and New Mexico, for example, interpreting statutes, have held that an indecent exposure occurring inside a private dwelling was not subject to criminal penalties. See Long v. State, 666 N.E.2d 1258, 1261 (Ind.App. 1996) (holding that, although "a private residence or private club is not a public place," the members-only strip club was a public place because membership only cost one dollar and therefore it was open to the public without restraint); State v. Romero, 103 N.M. 532, 710 P.2d 99, 103 (1985) (conviction for indecent exposure in private residence before two children reversed where "[i]t [wa]s undisputed that the acts of defendant upon which the state relied to establish the convictions of indecent exposure occurred within the confines of a private residence . . . [and] were not subject to being viewed by the public generally," meaning they were not "perpetrated in a place accessible or visible to the general public"). But see United States v. Graham, 56 M.J. 266, 269 (U.S.A.F.2002) ("At the onset, we note that Romero represents the minority view, which we generally decline to follow.