The Missouri Southern District Court of Appeals turned down a Springfield woman who wanted a new trial after being convicted on a misdemeanor sexual misconduct charge after taking off all of her clothes in a Springfield park and refusing to put them back on, She ended up spending 50 days in jail.
The opinion said that Samantha Edwards should have known that her conduct was offensive.
Here, Edwards should have known that exposing her genitals in a public park while there was ample daylight would likely cause affront or alarm.
Not only that, but when a kindly woman offered Ms. Edwards her bra, she didn't take it.
The incident was detailed in the opinion:
The record reveals that on May 27, 2012, at approximately 6:00 p.m., Edwards was in the back patio area of a maintenance building at the Jordan Valley Ice Park, a public park in Greene County, Missouri. While there, Edwards removed all of her clothing and exposed her genitals. The patio attached to the maintenance building was near a paved pedestrian path.
Two park employees, Vincent Herbert (“Herbert”) and Charity Evans (“Evans”), arrived to lock up the building for the evening and encountered Edwards while she was naked. Edwards told them that “[t]his is my area.” Herbert procured a towel for Edwards but “she kept taking it off.”
Herbert called park ranger Justin Wilson (“Wilson”), and apprised him of the situation. When Wilson arrived, Edwards was near a pair of restrooms accessible from the patio. Edwards was still completely naked, but was “hiding” behind a doorframe. Wilson asked Edwards to put on her clothes “[m]ultiple times,” but Edwards refused. Wilson gathered Edwards’ clothes, which he handed to Edwards before directing her to enter a restroom. After several more unsuccessful requests for her to put her clothes on, Wilson entered the restroom and handcuffed Edwards. At some point during this exchange, Edwards verbally acknowledged that she was naked. Wilson suspected that Edwards was under the influence of a controlled substance and
had her transported to a local hospital where Wilson filled out paperwork for a 96-hour hold.
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