Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

You should be far more concerned about being prosecuted yourself than with going after your ex-wife. At this point, you shouldn't be talking to ANYONE except for a criminal defense attorney and you certainly shouldn't be posting so much identifiable, personal information on a public site like LawGuru, which is visible to everybody in the world, including your ex-wife, the police and the District Attorney.

An individual cannot "pursue criminal charges." Only the District Attorney can file criminal charges. If your ex-wife contacts the police, their reports can be forwarded to the DA, who would then decide whether to prosecute you.

DO NOT TALK TO THE POLICE. They may pretend very interested in "getting your side of the story," but they would probably be more interested in getting information to help prosecute you. I don't see any crime on your ex-wife's part; you can sue her for slander in civil court, but that might trigger criminal charges.

THE POLICE CAN LIE TO YOU. Many times, the police will ask someone to go to the police station to answer questions, carefully saying the person is free to go any time. In fact, they may plan to arrest you from the moment you walk through the door, but they say you're free to go so they don't have to advise you of your rights to remain silent and have an attorney present. The US Supreme Court says that's just fine.

Beware of "pretext phone calls." You may get a call from your ex, her mother or someone else you know, wanting to talk about what happened. Chances are that a cop is sitting next to them, recording the conversation and telling the person which questions to ask you.

You are in a much more serious position than you seem to recognize. This is not a "do it yourself" project like fixing a leaky faucet that you can handle without help. You need to contact a criminal defense attorney now and stop talking to other people about this incident.

It sounds like what your ex said was true -- you did expose yourself in front of your daughter. If that's all she said, then she hasn't accused you of committing a lewd act. There is nothing "erroneous" about her statement.

Telling one of her own family members about something like this seems perfectly legal to me. Unless there is more to the story, she certainly hasn't committed a crime. I don't see any basis for civil liability either.

What you do need to worry about is her stated intention to keep you away from your daughter. Even if she doesn't exaggerate the story at all, she may be able to persuade the court to restrict your access to her.

If your nudity was not sexually motivated then I don't believe you broke the law by undressing in front of your daughter. But family court judges can take legal conduct into account when deciding what is in the best interests of the child. The court may take a very dim view of your conduct. You should discuss this with your divorce lawyer asap.

It is also quite possible that your ex will call the police and/or child protective services and tell them you committed a lewd act. If she does that, the authorities will come looking for you and you will need a good criminal defense lawyer in addition to your divorce lawyer. Until you have consulted with a criminal lawyer, you should not say anything to the authorities about what happened.