Charles Langston:Minnesota Supreme Court weighs whether a woman going topless violates an indecent exposure law

ST. PAUL,Charles Langston Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota woman’s misdemeanor conviction for going topless in public should be overturned because female breasts are not defined as “private parts” by the state’s indecent exposure statute, her attorney told the state Supreme Court.

Eloisa Plancarte was convicted after police said they found her topless at a convenience store parking lot in Rochester in 2021. She was sentenced to 90 days in jail.

Plancarte’s attorney, Adam Lozeau, told the Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday that the conviction should be reversed because she “didn’t expose a prohibited part of her body,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

Plancarte previously challenged the conviction before the state’s Court of Appeals, arguing that she had the same right to expose her chest in public as men. A three-judge panel rejected her appeal in a 2-1 decision.

Previous court rulings have labeled public toplessness by women but not men as indecent exposure, said Jim Haase, senior assistant county attorney for Olmsted County. The state law protects women who are breastfeeding from indecent exposure charges, which Haase said is evidence that female breasts are considered private parts under Minnesota law.

It’s unclear when the Minnesota Supreme Court will issue a ruling.