Hermosa Beach, Ticketed in Parking Structure, Case Dismissed

Our client, age 22, had just finished college and was working his first job as a software engineer in the San Fernando Valley. He was proud to be employed and happy to be able to go to Hermosa Beach with friends to relax on a Friday night over a few beers at the American Junkie Bar. He enjoyed the many big, flat-screen televisions and the loud atmosphere. It seemed like a reward for his years of hard work.

In 50 Words or Less: Software engineer, spends hours in American Junkie in Hermosa Beach, urinates in parking lot, charged with misdemeanor public nuisance; case resolved for infraction and $150 fine, misdemeanor charge dismissed.

Eventually, closing time came for the bar and our client, with his friends, spilled out. As the cold air greeted our client and his friends, our client felt the urge to urinate. He was heading toward his car parked in the large flat parking lot on ground level just south of American Junkie.

Unbeknownst to him, the City of Hermosa Beach had ten police officers assigned to “pee patrol” at that time of the year to write tickets to anyone urinating in public. The time being after 2:00 a.m. was when such officers wrote tickets with a certain frenzy. It was like “shooting fish in a barrel.”
Common alley area for public urination in Hermosa Beach
Our client did not admit to urinating, but also did not deny doing so. Instead, he began asking the officer how much the fine was and what he needed to do to “make the ticket go away,” which the police report described with a suggestion that our client was trying to bribe the officer to let him go. The officer instead explained when our client needed to appear in court to answer for the ticket, which was for violating Penal Code § 372, “Public Nuisance,” a misdemeanor.

Our client called Greg Hill & Associates about eight hours later, on a Saturday morning. He was nervous about being charged with a misdemeanor and concerned it would show up on a background check if he were convicted. The client had no prior criminal history.

Greg answered the client’s questions and recommended that he attend 30 Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) meetings before the arraignment, which was about two months away. Greg explained that if the client did this, it was probable that the Hermosa Beach City Prosecutor would amend the complaint to allege a violation of Penal Code § 374.3 as an infraction and then allow our client to plead no contest to the infraction. At the same time, if the client attended 30 AA meetings, the prosecutor would dismiss the misdemeanor charge.

Torrance Courthouse

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