Another undercover cop rushes onto the scene and arrests the man. Shortly after the unsuspecting man reciprocates the decoy’s advances and shows his penis, the decoy leaves. The decoy conveys nonverbal, flirtatious signals - nodding his head, raising his eyebrows, and simulating grabbing his crotch - that indicate an interest in sexual conduct with the target.Īlso, sometimes the decoy would look over the top of a private stall to view the man inside. The police organize a lewd conduct sting operation in a public place, usually a park or bathroom frequented by gay men, or an adult bookstore, and send in a decoy, who initiates contact with an unsuspecting man. Over the years, Bruce Nickerson recognized the pattern police used in the sting operations. His focus on lewd conduct emerged after pursuing several cases addressing such conduct issues at adult bookstores in the early 1980s in and around the Bay Area. Nickerson had operated a solo legal practice and often collaborated with attorneys addressing civil rights issues and lewd conduct cases. Nickerson received a degree in economics, with honors, from Stanford University and a doctor of jurisprudence from Golden Gate University. “The abuse Bruce suffered and received as a child served as fuel to defend gay men in the court room for their false arrests,” said Stephanie Loftin, a Long Beach attorney who worked with Bruce on several cases over 30 years. His father hit him, and his mother tried to beat the demons out of him. He never came out to his parents however, they thought something was not quite right with him, even though he earned A’s in school and always behaved. His father was a former Golden Gloves boxer, and his mother was a Pentelcoastal minister. Why did Orange County District Attorney prosecute innocent gay man as sex offender?īorn June 21, 1941, Bruce Nickerson was raised in Modesto. Nickerson had said it was a mistake that haunted him for decades.
His law license was suspended twice, and he served jail time for helping an accused child molester flee the country in 1988. Nickerson, however, knew how these sting operations worked and waged war against them.īut early in his career, Nickerson faced serious legal problems.
But the few who fought back and wanted their day in court, faced the wrath and full weight of aggressive prosecutors, legal experts said. Many victims of these police sting operations (most of them closeted gay men) simply paid the fine and accepted a probation plea to avoid possibly having their lives ruined.
If they were found guilty of indecent exposure, a lifetime registration on the sex offender list was required. In many cases, defendants faced counts of not only lewd conduct, but also indecent exposure.
Over the years, Bruce Nickerson helped numerous clients avoid a criminal record or a place on California’s list of registered sex offenders, along side rapists, child murderers, and sexual predators. Long Beach police’s dark history of discriminating against gay men “Bruce was relentless and intensely passionate,” Lopez says. When I talked to him Friday, he said he would be in the office Saturday afternoon. He was working and fighting up until the very end.
“Bruce was devoted to LGBTQ rights,” Lopez says. “LGBTQ rights are civil rights and human rights.” “Bruce was a civil rights lawyer, and a human rights lawyer,” Lopez tells Q Voice News. He was rushed to a local hospital, where he regained consciousness, but passed away Saturday morning. Nickerson previously had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, but it’s unknown if that contributed to his death, said Lopez, who is awaiting cause of death information from the coroner.Ī colleague found Nickerson unconscious in his San Carlos office on the afternoon of Feb. Nickerson died at a hospital Saturday in Redwood City after a brief illness, said Carlos Scott Lopez, Nickerson’s domestic partner.