I need help. I was recently arrested and charged with lewd conduct in Los Angeles. According to the police, they saw me having sex with several guys in a wooded area of Elysian Park, but the truth is that I was only walking through the area while others were engaging in sex. When the police came in, the ones having sex ran and so they grabbed me.

What do I do? I have so many questions.
1) Do I plead Not Guilty? If I plead Not Guilty and they convict me anyway, will the penalty be worse than if I had just plead Guilty?
2) Is it possible that they will send me to jail for this, my first offense, especially if I try to plead Not Guilty?
3) Will they notify my employer (a college), and could my college fire me?
4) Isn’t it true that for a lewd conduct charge to stick, there has to have been a third party present who was offended OTHER than the arresting officer(s)? I’ve heard this but don’t know if it’s true. If it’s true, does that mean the charge will be thrown out?
5) Will I be questioned as to my sexual orientation or history, or asked whether I’ve ever had sex in that park before? If so, should I lie about these things?
6) Can anyone refer me to an attorney? Other than attorney, is there a resource I should contact that takes an interest in bogus ‘lewd conduct’ arrests here in Los Angeles?
7) Based on what I’ve shared, is there any chance the charge might be thrown out? What does that even mean exactly?

And in general, WHAT SHOULD I DO?

Thanks so much for any help
Dcfan

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I'm a lawyer in Illinois. I don't know California law and if you want absolutely correct answers to your questions, you should consult a lawyer who knows California law. But here are answers to your questions based on my experience.

(1) No, there is not much risk of a greater penalty if you are convicted after pleading not guilty versus a guilty plea. As a first time offender, the most you're going to get if convicted is probation. This will be true whether you plead guilty or not.

(2) See #1, above.

(3) Courts and police do not report crimes to employers. It's not part of their mission or power to do so. However, court records are public records, and employers can search court records whenever they feel like it. They generally only do it (if ever) before hiring someone.

(4) Lewd conduct statutes are generally not worded in a way that requires someone to have to have been present to witness the conduct and be offended by it. It's possible that courts in California could interpret such a statute that way (here's where you need the California lawyer), but I highly doubt it.

(5) Your orientation and prior acts have nothing to do with whether you did what you were accused of doing. If you were ever on trial for this, your lawyer would object to such questions, if they were even asked, and no judge would allow such questions in.

(6) There are legal referral services in every city and in a city as large as L.A., there is probably one that focuses on the gay community. Check gay newspapers or online to see if you can find a Gay/Lesbian bar association (the "bar" is another word for lawyers as a whole). They would be able to refer you to someone. I'm sure there are many lawyers who have handled dozens of cases like this.

(7) Unless you can produce witnesses to refute the police's charges, or show some procedural error on their part, it's your word against theirs. Things usually go the police's way in court.

It's quite possible that as a first time offender, they will go out of their way to AVOID prosecuting you. Courts are very busy, so they do what they can to devote their resources to the most serious matters (if only the police were the same way!)

At your initial court hearing, the judge may place you under court supervision for some period of time--say 6 months to a year--and put off sending your case to trial until that period of time is over. If you stay out of trouble for that period of time, the charges against you will be dropped with no further obligations (court dates, probation, fines, etc.) on your part.

Then after some period of time has passed and you have remained out of trouble, you will be eligible to have the record of your arrest expunged, which means that the police return the original documents associated with the arrest to you and delete records of the arrest from their computer database. This means that any background check on you will no longer show an arrest.

Again, it's really important that you talk to someone who knows California law about all of this. But there's no reason to panic.

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You definitely need some legal help. If you can't afford an attorney, call the legal resource center of the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center at 323 993-7670, or you can email them at legalservices@laglc.org. Under no circumstances should you plead guilty without first consulting a legal professional. Pleading guilty without some sort prior agreement among the prosecutor, defense and court could result in your having to register as a sex offender. You don't want that. Good luck.

__________________
"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully
as when they do it from religious conviction."
-Blaise Pascal

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As stated above, laws vary from state to state. One difference is that in some states law enforcement CAN notify employers of an arrest.

For instance, if you are realeased on recognizance (ROR), part of the procedure is usually to verify your employment, which may include calling your boss at 3:00 a.m. to ask if you work for ABC company.

Also, at least in Florida, if you work for the school system (k-12) and are arrested, your principal gets a call at the time of the arrest (again, 3:00 a.m.) to notify them that you have been arrested and what the charges are. This results in being called before a review board, etc. Not fun. Even for something like DUI ...

Regarding expunging your record, I believe that you are only allowed to do this once (at least in Florida). So get all of your bad-boy days out of the way before you expunge. Also, not all individuals and not all charges qualify for expungement. Not sure about Lewd and Lacivious.

I speak from experience. Been there, done that.

Best advice: get a lawyer WITH EXPERIENCE IN THIS TYPE OF CHARGE. It's worth the money.

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Very good advise, especially from assman and bayshorebottom. Another possibility might be deferred prosecution. You pay a hefty fee, go to some classes/counseling, keep out of trouble (no public sex in cars!!), promise to never do it again, and after six months or a year, the case is dismissed. Don't know if Calif does that for for a lewd charge. That is why you must talk to a real atty in Calif.

As for notifiying your employer. Well, if you get probation, the PO will probable check with your employer from time to time to see that you are maintaining steady employment and might even pay you a visit on the job.....just to be sure.

If you plead not guilty and go to trial, previously reported incidents, even if not charged, could be brought out in court to show a propensity or pattern. If you don't believe it, look right now at the Michael Jackson trial. The kid he paid off testified in this trial even though it never led to a charge.

Anything your not telling us? Police fill our "contact card" which are on file for just such future incidents. "Questioned so-and-so, who was found in the park, a known sex hang out, after closing hours".

You see, there are so damn many what ifs that you have got to see a lawyer with experience in this area in your state.

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