Charges of Open and Gross Lewdness Against Electrician Do Not Issue After Clerk Magistrate Hearing

Our client is an electrician working on residential and commercial projects. Many of his jobs require a background check and any criminal history results in his inability to work on that job. In September of 2021 a female college student flagged down a police officer and complained that a man in a parked car pulled out his penis and began to masturbate in front of her. The police approached the vehicle and made contact with the driver. The victim made a positive identification and the man was interrogated. He admitted to doing what the woman claimed he did. He later received a summons for a clerk magistrate hearing seeking to charge him with open and gross lewdness in violation of G.L. c. 272 section 16, a felony in Massachusetts. We appeared and defended the man at the hearing. Our presentation convinced the clerk not to issue the complaint. Instead, it will be held for a period of time and dismissed provided that the man not get into any criminal legal trouble.

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