Manhattan Central Park Exposure / lewdness charges dismissed

2016

Our client was arrested and charged for engaging in sexual activity with another person in Central Park. After being confronted by the police, our client claimed that it wasn’t what they thought it was but the police arrested him anyway and gave him a desk appearance ticket charging him with lewdness and exposure. The arresting officer witnessed the event from only a few feet away and provided a detailed description of what he saw in the criminal complaint. Our client had never been arrested before and wanted to keep his record clean. During the case evaluation, we discussed ways to get his case resolved with a clean record and no jail although we pointed out that no lawyer can guarantee a particular outcome or result. Over the next few months, we fought the charges and ended up negotiating a deal whereby the prosecutor would dismiss the criminal charges in exchange for our client pleading guilty to a non-criminal violation. As part of this deal, the arrest and case would be sealed off from our client’s criminal record and there would be no jail and no sex offender program. He had to complete some community service.