RIVERSIDE - The decision by a judge to dismiss an indecent exposure count against a woman - because she is a woman - is being questioned and appealed by the Riverside County district attorney's office.

Judge Robert W. Armstrong dismissed the case against 40-year-old Alexis Luz Garcia at a hearing at the Hall of Justice in Riverside on Monday - the day both sides were set to select a jury for the Corona woman's trial.

Garcia was accused of disrobing and sitting naked outside her home in an attempt to get a teen boy who lived next door to stop playing basketball because, she said, he was being too loud.

The legal issue, according to transcripts of the proceeding, is the judge's belief that the California Penal Code section covering indecent exposure is, in Armstrong's words, "gender specific."

Penal Code Section 314, subsection 1, states that "every person who willfully and lewdly exposes his person, or the private parts thereof, in any public place, or in any place where there are present other persons to be offended or annoyed" … is guilty of a misdemeanor.

"Usually when a section proscribes conduct, it's 'his or her,'" Armstrong said, according to the transcript. "This one is not. It's gender specific. It's 'his.'"

Deputy District Attorney Alison Norton, who was prosecuting Garcia, argued that the section should pertain to both men and women.

"I'm just telling you what it says," Armstrong replied, according to transcripts. "So on that basis, this case is dismissed." He then told Norton the prosecution could appeal his decision.

Ingrid Wyatt, spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, confirmed Wednesday that the ruling is being appealed.

Although it was not brought up during Monday's court proceeding, there is another Penal Code section that seems to support the prosecution's contention that the judge ruled incorrectly.

According to that section, words in the Penal Code that use the masculine gender also apply to females.

Norton said Wednesday that she was "shocked" when the judge dismissed the case.

"I'm more upset for the family and the victim," the prosecutor said. "They were really upset by this."

The victim as alleged in this case is a 14-year-old boy who was playing basketball the afternoon of May 26 in front of his parent's Corona home, according to a police report.

Corona police Sgt. Neil Reynolds said Garcia asked the boy to stop playing because it was too loud, but the boy continued.

"So to try and drive him away, she disrobed and sat on her sun deck naked," Reynolds, a spokesman for the Police Department, said.

The boy went inside, told his parents and they called the police.

The prosecutor says the boy and his family "don't feel her conduct was appropriate."

And neither does Norton.

"I want this case to get back to court and see justice served. I hope the family gets their justice," Norton said.

That could happen, should the prosecution's appeal of Armstrong's ruling be upheld.

"I'm pleased that our office is so upset about this (ruling) that it took such swift action to appeal it," the prosecutor said.

"The victim's father asked me how he was supposed to teach his son about right and wrong after this," Norton said. "That just broke my heart."

- Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.