Opinion ID: 2543718
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: events surrounding defendant's arrest

Text: ¶ 2 At approximately 8:45 p.m. on July 9, 1999, two undercover Salt Lake City police officers saw defendant pick up a woman. Roberts, 2000 UT App. 201 at ¶ 2, 7 P.3d 789. Believing the woman was a prostitute, the officers followed defendant's car to a parking lot behind a bar that was open for business. Id. Defendant parked his car behind two flatbed trucks in the rear of the parking lot. Id. Bordering the parking lot was a two-story cement wall, a chain-link fence, and a closed business. Id. at ¶ 10. One of the officers later testified that, at the time, numerous patrons of the bar were entering and leaving the parking lot, and that anyone could walk back to the area of the lot where defendant was parked. Id. at ¶ 2. ¶ 3 To avoid detection, the officers parked in front of the bar and proceeded to the parking lot on foot. One officer crawled beneath one of the flatbed trucks and emerged approximately 15 to 20 feet from defendant's car. Id. The officer later testified that this vantage point permitted him to see into the back window of defendant's car and observe defendant put his mouth to the woman's exposed breasts. Id. The officer further testified that when he approached the car, he also observed defendant's exposed genitals. Id. at ¶ 6. ¶ 4 The officers arrested defendant for disorderly conduct under Salt Lake City Code § 11.16.100 (disorderly conduct ordinance), which, in relevant part, makes it unlawful for any person, while in a place open to public view, to willfully ... [e]ngage in sexual conduct, alone or with another person[, or] ... [m]ake an intentional exposure of his or her genitals.... Salt Lake City Code § 11.16.100.