Com. v. Dickinson

Decision Date28 October 1964
PartiesCOMMONWEALTH v. Ferdinand DICKINSON.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Phillip S. Cronin, Asst. Dist. Atty., for Commonwealth.

Before WILKINS, C. J., and SPALDING, WHITTEMORE, CUTTER, KIRK, SPIEGEL and REARDON, JJ.

RESCRIPT.

The defendant was found guilty by a judge of the Superior Court sitting without jury of open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior. The defendant, who came from Taunton on a chilly March night, sought directions to Brockton from the female complainant on the Bridgewater State Teachers College campus. She was unable to hear him and approached his car to discover him naked from the waist down with his left hand 'between his legs on his private.' 'The complainant observed his private organ.' The contention of the defendant that it was not sufficiently shown that he intended his act to be 'open,' G.L. c. 272, § 16, is without merit. The circumstances of his act are indicative of an intention which made it 'open' as defined in Commonwealth v. Wardell, 128 Mass. 52, 54, and Commonwealth v. Cummings, 273 Mass. 229, 231, 173 N.E. 506.

Exceptions overruled.

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12 cases
  • PBIC, INC. v. Byrne
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts
    • 22 Mayo 1970
    ...the purview of section 16 is the imposition of lewdness or nudity on an unsuspecting or unwilling person, e. g., Commonwealth v. Dickinson, 348 Mass. 767, 202 N.E.2d 240 (1964), and Commonwealth v. Cummings, 273 Mass. 229, 231, 173 N.E. 506 (1930). The crime of indecent exposure is "offensi......
  • Com. v. Adams
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court
    • 18 Mayo 1983
    ...and lascivious behavior as it was intended by the provisions of the statute to punish." Id. More recently, in Commonwealth v. Dickinson, 348 Mass. 767, 202 N.E.2d 240 (1964), this court affirmed a conviction under § 16 based on facts similar to those presented here. A bystander had observed......
  • City of Revere v. Aucella
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court
    • 3 Diciembre 1975
    ...application of the statute to the imposition of lewdness or nudity on an unsuspecting or unwilling person. Cf. Commonwealth v. Dickinson, 348 Mass. 767, 202 N.E.2d 240 (1964); Commonwealth v. Cummings, 273 Mass. 229, 231, 173 N.E. 506 (1930). We sanctioned an injunction against prosecution ......
  • Com. v. Arthur
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court
    • 13 Junio 1995
    ...See Commonwealth v. Adams, supra at 266, 450 N.E.2d 149 (defendant driving automobile with his penis exposed); Commonwealth v. Dickinson, 348 Mass. 767, 202 N.E.2d 240 (1964) (defendant naked from waist down in automobile); Commonwealth v. Wardell, 128 Mass. 52, 53 (1880) (defendant made in......
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