Commonwealth v. Fitta

The defendant is awaiting trial before a jury of six 1 on a complaint charging him with “open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior.” G. L. c. 272, § 16. Prior to trial, the defendant moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that the statute under which the crime was charged was so vague and over- broad that it deprived him of his constitutional rights under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Relying on Lanzetta v. New Jersey, 306 U.S. 451, 453 (1939), and Connally v. General Constr. Co., 269 U.S. 385, 391 (1926), the…