Misdemeanor Public Urination Resolved As Infraction PC 415

For any client of ours who has a teaching credential, or any other state-issued professional license, it is critical that our office exhaust all efforts in trying to resolve the case in a way that avoids or minimizes the effect on the credential or license, as it can have career-ending consequences.

Summary: Our client, a credentialed high school teacher, was ticketed for misdemeanor public nuisance (Penal Code § 372) in Hermosa Beach for urinating in public after enjoying the downtown bar area. The case was resolved for an infraction, minimizing any negative effect on his license there.

At 2:00 a.m., the bar closed and our client headed over toward the taxi pickup area along Hermosa Avenue, just south of the intersection of it with Pier Avenue. As he walked over toward that area, feeling the cool night air, he felt the need to urinate.

He headed back to the bar and asked to be let in to use the restroom. The bar apologized that it could not let him back in. He frantically tried to use the restroom at several other bars and restaurants nearby, but each one told him he could not come inside.

As the reader of this summary may know, there are public restrooms along the Strand at the southwest corner of Pier Plaza, near Hennessey’s Tavern and Kevin’s Restaurant, but such restrooms are poorly lit and often frequented by homosexual men interested in an alternative use of the restroom.

There are no other public restrooms in the downtown area.Hermosa Beach Parking Lot

Sure enough, as soon as our client had begun urinating, he heard a voice very close to him saying, “excuse me, are you urinating?” Our client sheepishly said he was and with great embarrassment, turned to see an undercover police officer beginning to write out a ticket. The officer explained that he would ticket our client and let him go if he signed a promise to appear in Torrance Superior Court in about four weeks.

Our client signed the promise to appear and, with great embarrassment, sulked away.

Once he returned home and read the ticket, he realized that the charge he was cited for was a misdemeanor. He became panicked that a conviction for a misdemeanor might jeopardize renewal of his teaching credential, or result in its immediate suspension.

He searched the Internet and called Greg Hill & Associates. He spoke with Greg Hill, explaining what had happened and describing his concerns about his teaching credential.

Torrance Courthouse

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