Nevada Supreme Court Decides "Open and Gross Lewdness" Law is Not Unconstitutionally Vague
In 2006, Durand Berry was convicted for open and gross lewdness in Las Vegas after allegedly holding up a Cash Loans store and suggestively touching the cashier. In Berry v. State (125 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 26), he appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court on the grounds that NRS 201.210, open and gross lewdness in Nevada, was unconstitutionally vague because the words “gross” and “lewdness” aren’t defined in Nevada law. In rejecting his argument last month, the Court explained that those words have generally accepted meanings because “an average person of ordinary intelligence can determine what conduct is proscribed by the statute.”
Open and gross lewdness in Las Vegas encompasses such acts as engaging in sexual activity in public or exposing one’s private parts. A first offense is a gross misdemeanor carrying one year in jail, and a second offense is a category D felony, mandating up to 4 years in state prison.
