Opinion ID: 2543718
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether Defendant's Sexual Conduct Occurred In An Area Capable Of Use Or Observance By Persons From The General Community

Text: ¶ 29 To satisfy the definition's first element, defendant's sexual conduct must have occurred in an area capable of [either] use or observance by persons from the general community. Salt Lake City Code § 11.16.010(M) (1996). We conclude that the area in which defendant engaged in sexual conduct, i.e., the interior of a car located in the parking lot of a bar was capable of ... observance by persons from the general community. Id. Specifically, based on the common meaning of the word capable, defendant's conduct in the car's interior was capable of ... observance if persons from the general community were able to observe the conduct. See Webster's Third International Dictionary 330 (1986). This was certainly the case. According to the officer's undisputed trial testimony, anyone could have reached the officer's vantage point on foot. Moreover, as noted by the court of appeals, the trial court concluded that defendant was in a public parking lot, which indicates that it was used by persons from the general community. Salt Lake City Code § 11.16.010(M) (1996). Accordingly, we conclude that, as a matter of law, defendant engaged in sexual conduct in an area capable of ... observance by persons from the general community.