Boulder DA wants state to ease up on streakers

1-16-2010 Colorado:

Garnett: 'Everyone who does something goofy' shouldn't be named a sex offender

If Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett gets his way, anyone convicted of streaking in Colorado -- including the unabashed Halloween revelers known for running naked with pumpkins on their heads in Boulder -- no longer will be forced to register as sex offenders.

Garnett has proposed legislation that would make streaking, public urination and other "Pumpkin Run-type behavior" in Colorado a petty offense rather than a class 1 misdemeanor that forces people to register as sex offenders.

If the Legislature passes Garnett's proposal to remove the acts from the state's indecent exposure law and enforce them under its public indecency law, most naked runners and others caught with their pants down would face a fine instead.

Garnett said he thinks the change would benefit authorities statewide by making the laws more enforceable.

For example, when 12 people were ticketed in 2008 for participating in the annual Naked Pumpkin Run on the Pearl Street Mall, 11 pleaded guilty to a different charge because the punishment for indecent exposure didn't fit the crime, Garnett said.

Changing the law also will keep the sex-offender label meaningful, he said.

"If everyone who does something goofy gets identified as a sex offender, it doesn't mean anything," Garnett said. "I believe it's a public safety issue."

Garnett also is proposing that the state make public masturbation a more serious crime. It's now covered under the state's public indecency law -- a petty offense -- and Garnett wants it to be a violation of the state's indecent exposure law that comes with sex-offender registration.

Garnett met with the Colorado District Attorneys Council on Friday to ask for support of his proposed legislation. The governing board voted to support it, Garnett said, and the council now is developing the specific language.

Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner said he's behind the push to take streaking out of the "sex offense" category.

Beckner said his department began working with the City Attorney's Office last year to draft a public nudity ordinance that would be more appropriate for streaking-type pranks. He expects to present something to the City Council later this year, meaning both Boulder and the state could enact laws making streaking a less-serious offense.

"We never were of the opinion that someone who is just streaking should be identified as a sex offender," he said.

Judd Golden, chairman of the American Civil Liberties Union's Boulder chapter, said his organization doesn't believe that public nudity -- by itself -- should be against the law at all.

"That is regressive," he said. "It's going back to the Victorian days when body parts were considered immoral."

If a person runs nude through a football game, Golden said, he or she should be charged with disrupting a public event. If a naked person walks into traffic, he or she should be charged with obstruction.

"But our position is that public nudity in and of itself -- absent aggravating circumstances -- should not be a criminal offense," he said.

If Garnett's proposal moves smoothly through the Legislature, the earliest it could take effect is July 1. It's unknown how quickly Boulder could enact its own public nudity ordinance. ..Source.. Vanessa Miller Camera Staff Writer