FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 26, 2010

(MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA) – State Representatives Jim Barton (R-Mobile) and Spencer Collier (R-Irvington) yesterday introduced House Bill 634 which classifies the third and subsequent convictions of indecent exposure as a Class C felony.  Currently Section 13A-6-68 of the Code of Alabama, 1975, provides that a case of “indecent exposure is a Class A misdemeanor.”  Right now an individual can be convicted of nearly unlimited counts of indecent exposure without ever facing a serious penalty.

“We recently had an instance of someone convicted more than thirty times of indecent exposure who basically walked away with only a slap on the wrist each time.  HB634 will toughen up the current law regarding indecent exposure,” said Rep. Barton.

“As a former law enforcement officer, I understand that sometimes loopholes exist in the law that don’t make sense; this is one of those instances,” Rep. Collier added.  “Just adding the phrase ‘except a third or subsequent conviction shall be a Class C felony’ to the existing language of the statute will permanently close that loophole,” he concluded.

Rep. Barton was first elected to the Alabama House of Representatives District 104 in 2002 and was reelected in 2006. He graduated from the University of South Alabama and is the owner of Bay Area Resources and Old South Construction.  Rep. Barton and his wife, Kim, have two children - son Ward and daughter Georgianne. They are members of Saint Pius X Catholic Church.

Rep. Collier was first elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 2002 from District 105 and was reelected in 2006. Rep. Collier, a graduate of Troy University and a former Alabama State Trooper, is married to Melissa Collier, and they have four children, Christopher, Connor, Colby and Caroline.  The Colliers are members of Mobile Christian Center.

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