How would you like to be the lawyer who is known for defending a man on charges of upskirting?
You may recall that upskirting and downblousing are the terms used for taking surreptitious pictures of people, in various states of undress, or under their dress, with your cameraphone (and then often times uploading the pictures to the Internet).
Well, it seems that 41-year old Robert Sullivan of Alexandria, West Virginia, was caught while he was catching an upskirting photo up the skirt of a young woman in a food court in a mall in Pennsylvania.
His dirty deed was witnessed by a friend of the object of his attention, and Sullivan was reported to the police, and arrested.
The young woman then explained to police that she had been wearing a thong, and felt “exposed and victimized.”
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In pleading his client’s case to the court, Sullivan’s attorney, John Abom, said that “I have no doubt that what Sullivan did was highly offensive. It was stupid, it was immoral, it was insulting,” he admitted, but, he argued, it wasn’t illegal – “it just wasn’t criminal under the invasion of privacy law,” he explained.
At issue, explains Abom, is that the law under which Sullivan is charged, applies only “in a place where the person would have a reasonable expectation of privacy,” and that the law defines such a place as “a location where a reasonable person would believe that he could disrobe in privacy, without being concerned that his undressing was being viewed, photographed or filmed by another.”
Therein lies the rub, says Abom, who argues that the victim “was not in a state of full or partial nudity when the alleged picture was taken; she was fully clothed and standing in the food court of the Capital City Mall.”
No word on whether Sullivan got to keep the picture.
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I was not defending the Perp; there is no defence for upskirting. I was only making a statement.
while i enjoy seeing a girl’s bare bottom i’d prefer that it be with her willing, active consent. whatever the “legalities” his lawyer may dig up peeping and photographing without the girl’s permission is an invasion of privacy that, if not illegal is certainly unethical. i’d say the young lady should go ahead and file a civil suit, even if she does not win she will cost the perp enough time and money in court to make him think twice before aiming his camera up a stranger’s skirt again.
If, in fact, he is allowed to keep his picture, wouldn’t he have to have the girl’s written permission authorizing him to use it commercially or even noncommercially, as in a “photo release” before putting it on the internet or selling it? If so, he will have to keep it to himself or then get sued.