“A Right to Walk to the Neighborhood Donut Shop” With Genitals Out “Is Absent from Our Traditions of Liberty”
From State v. Geri, decided today by the Arizona Court of Appeals, in an opinion by Presiding Judge Cynthia J. Bailey joined by Judges Peter B. Swann and D. Steven Williams:
Shortly after getting in line at a donut shop in Scottsdale, R. glanced behind her, after noticing her four-year-old child was upset. She saw a white male with a red shirt, red shorts and “a fanny pack” standing in line a few feet behind them. Geri’s accessory of choice was not, as it turned out, a fanny pack. Rather, Geri was standing with his “genital area completely exposed.” After realizing Geri’s state of undress and seeing the shock and confusion on her child’s face, R. confronted Geri and asked him why his genitals were uncovered in public. Geri responded that R. “can’t tell [him] how to dress.” R. took her child away from Geri and hid within the store.
Geri then left the donut shop and began walking along Hayden Road, with “his genitals [] out and his [boxer shorts] actually tucked underneath his testicles.” A police officer responded to reports of a man exposing himself and arrested Geri.
Geri was charged with one count of misdemeanor indecent exposure to victim R., and one count of felony indecent exposure to R.’s minor child. R. testified that she and her child were visibly offended by the display. Geri represented himself at trial, testifying that he did, in fact, expose himself to R. and her ch
Article from Latest
