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Tag: peeping tom

  • Erin Andrews Lawsuit Over Leaked Nude Photos Gets Underway

    Jury selection for a stalking lawsuit filed by Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews against a Nashville Marriott hotel began on Monday, and the court proceedings will resume on Tuesday with opening statements from her legal representatives, The Tennessean reported.

    Andrews is reportedly seeking $75 million in damages in a lawsuit that accuses the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University for their negligence in security. According to the lawsuit filed in Davidson County Circuit Court, a man named Michael David Barrett reserved a room next to hers and rigged her room’s peepholes with a camera and recorded videos of Andrews as she changed her clothes.

    The reporter, who was working for ESPN in 2008, was in Nashville to cover a Vanderbilt football match, according to court documents. Barrett allegedly uploaded the videos on the Internet. He pleaded guilty in 2009 to stalking and shooting the nude videos and reportedly faced 30 months imprisonment the following year.

    Erin Andrews originally named Marriott International as a defendant, but a judge dismissed the hotel company as a defendant just last month. Her lawsuit lists Barrett, Windsor Capital Group, the hotel’s parent company, and Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University. She accuses the hotel of “negligence, infliction of emotional distress, and invasion of privacy” according to The Tennessean.

    During jury selection on the first day of the civil trial for the stalking lawsuit, members of the press were allegedly kept out of the courtroom due to Judge Hamilton Gayden’s interpretation of Rule 30, which is related to media access. They were later permitted to enter the courtroom for the last part of jury selection after an attorney for The Tennessean and Channel 4 intervened.

    The trial for Erin Andrews’ negligence lawsuit against the hotel is expected to last about 10 days

  • Mass. Upskirting Photos Ruled Legal; Lawmakers Vote to Ban

    The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts on ruled it legal to take photos underneath a person’s clothing, known as “upskirting.” The high court said on Wednesday that the practice did not violate the law, because the “Peeping Tom” statute only applies to those who are nude or are partially nude.

    In 2010, Michael Robertson was arrested and accused of using his cell phone to record videos and take photos up the dresses and skirts of women on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority trolley. He was charged with two counts of photographing a person in a state of partial nudity. Citing the law, Robertson’s lawyers noted that the female subway riders were not “nude or partially nude” and were also not in a place where privacy was expected, like bathrooms and dressing rooms.

    Legal expert Anne Bremner said the ruling exposes a legal loophole, commenting that the existing stature talks about nudity and not privacy. Similarly, Sunny Hostin, a legal analyst for CNN, remarked that the law has not caught up to technology and upskirting is an assault to a person’s right to privacy. She added that the spirit of the law should be about privacy.

    The ruling has prompted one prosecutor to call for a revision of the state law. Daniel Conley, District Attorney for Suffolk Country, stated that every person has a right to privacy beneath the clothes he or she wears, and that if the law does not protect that right, then the Legislature must act fast and adjust the law.

    A day after the legality of upskirting was upheld, lawmakers voted to ban photos of women and children’s “sexual or intimate parts” taken in secret. Senate President Therese Murray remarked that the practice is sexual harassment. She added that women and children should be free to go to public places “without feeling like they are not protected by the law.” The vote awaits Governor Deval Patrick’s signature.

    House Speaker Robert DeLeo stated that they acted to bring the statutes of Massachusetts “up-to-date with technology.” Other states, such as Washington, Florida, and New York have passed laws criminalizing upskirting, stressing that women have an expectation of privacy under clothing.

    Image via YouTube

  • Mass. Upskirt Photos: Bill to Ban Upskirt Photos Approved

    Just one day after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (MSJC) ruled that upskirt photos are not illegal, a bill Massachusetts lawmakers quickly drafted to ban such pictures was approved by the state legislature. Governor Deval Patrick has said he will sign the bill into law, so, no, you can’t expect to use your cellphone to take pictures up a woman’s skirt legally on your next visit to The Bay State.

    Michael Robertson was arrested in 2010 after being caught using his phone to snap pictures up the skirts of women on the Boston subway. After failing to get the charges dismissed, Robertson eventually appealed to the MSJC, and the court decided that the state’s Peeping Tom law didn’t apply to Robertson’s case.

    According to the court, the law states that the female has to be at least partially nude when the pictures are taken for the law to apply. Prosecutors tried to argue that that “the victim was partially nude for purposes of the statute because portions of her body intentionally covered by clothing were revealed by the surreptitiously-placed camera and visible through its lens,” but the MSJC disagreed. Check out part of the ruling below.

    A female passenger on a MBTA trolley who is wearing a skirt, dress, or the like covering these parts of her body is not a person who is ‘partially nude,’ no matter what is or is not underneath the skirt by way of underwear or other clothing.

    If you’re thinking that it is ridiculous to think that someone should be allowed to use their phone to take upskirt photos without a woman’s permission, you’re not alone, as Massachusetts lawmakers were fast to approve a bill banning such pictures. After the bill is signed by the governor, there will no longer be any gray area to the law as far as taking upskirt photos is concerned.

    ‘‘It is sexual harassment. It’s an assault on another person whether it’s a child or an adult,’’ Senate President Therese Murray said after the bill was approved. ‘‘Woman and children should be able to go to public places without feeling that they are not protected by the law.’’

    According to the bill, anyone caught taking such pictures will be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to two and a half years in jail. Further, distributing such pictures would be considered a felony that could carry up to a 10-year sentence.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons