THE SHELLOW COLLECTION
Jury Instructions By James M. Shellow of Wisconsin
Go to Shellow Collection Table of Contents

Indecent Exposure

    1.    Exposing Genitals To Urinate Insufficient To Support Conviction For Lewd 
           And Lascivious Behavior
    2.    Jury Should Reconcile The Evidence Upon Any Reasonable Hypothesis 
           Consistent With Innocence

THE SHELLOW COLLECTION
Jury Instructions By James M. Shellow of Wisconsin

1.    Exposing Genitals To Urinate Insufficient To Support Conviction For Lewd And Lascivious Behavior

ALERT: Carefully review the Caveats and Disclaimers before using these materials.

    __________’s (name of defendant) theory of defense is that he exposed himself in the restroom of ___________ (location) solely for the purpose of urinating. Because the law allows a person to publicly expose his genitals in a public restroom to urinate, the act of publicly exposing one's genitals in a public restroom for the purpose of urinating, standing alone, is insufficient to support a conviction for lewd and lascivious behavior.

    Accordingly, unless the state proves by evidence that satisfies you beyond a reasonable doubt that __________ (name of defendant) publicly exposed his genitals for some purpose other than to urinate, you must find him not guilty.

Wis. Stat. §939.45; cf. City of Cleveland v. Pugh, 110 Ohio App.3d 472, 674 N.E.2d 759, 761 (1996) ("we find as a matter of law that merely 'answering an urgent call of nature alfresco' by urinating in public does not constitute public indecency").

See NCJIC 101.6 [Indecent Exposure].

THE SHELLOW COLLECTION
Jury Instructions By James M. Shellow of Wisconsin

2.    Jury Should Reconcile The Evidence Upon Any Reasonable Hypothesis Consistent With Innocence

ALERT: Carefully review the Caveats and Disclaimers before using these materials.

    If you can reconcile the evidence upon any reasonable hypothesis consistent with __________ (name of defendant) innocence, you should do so and return a verdict of not guilty of lewd and lascivious behavior.

See NCJIC 101.6 [Indecent Exposure].