After one day of deliberation, a San Francisco jury has decided that Richard Sierra’s failed attempt at being a nudist did not warrant being labeled a sex offender for the rest of his life, nor a year spent in the county jail.
Novice nudist Richard Sierra, 48 was acquitted on charges of indecent exposure after a man walking his dog mistook his attempt to fit in with a group of naked men in the Castro District who wear jewelry on their genitals by attaching a binder ring to his penis as masturbating in public.
Sierra was arrested during a demonstration to protest a city ban on public nudity,* when he became embarrassed by scars on his stomach and decided to keep his tank top on, while attaching the makeshift jewelry.
“The man walking the dog misunderstood his movements,” stated Assistant Public Defender Cindy Elias. “He also saw want he thought was lubricant, but which Sierra testified was just cream to treat chronic eczema on another part of his body.”
*San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted 6-5 to approve a public nudity ban in November 2012, stating that “exposed genitals will no longer be permitted in the City’s public area including sidewalks, streets, plazas and parks. However, those who bare their bodies at the annual gay pride event, as well as at the Folsom Street Fair (which celebrates sadomasochism and other “sexual subcultures” will be exempt from punishment. The ban also excludes children under the age of 5.
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