Judge Rules Man Who Took Photos Up Women’s Skirts Didn’t Violate Privacy

Tourists climb the steps up to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Friday, July 26, 2013, after someone splattered green paint on the statue of the 16th president and the floor area. Police say the apparent vandalism... Tourists climb the steps up to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Friday, July 26, 2013, after someone splattered green paint on the statue of the 16th president and the floor area. Police say the apparent vandalism was discovered early Friday morning with no words, letters or symbols visible in the paint. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) MORE LESS
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A Washington, D.C., judge ruled on Thursday that a man who took pictures up women’s skirts at the Lincoln Memorial did not violate her privacy, Washington area TV station WJLA reported.

“This Court finds that no individual clothed and positioned in such a manner in a public area in broad daylight in the presence of countless other individuals could have a reasonable expectation of privacy,” Judge Juliet McKenna wrote in her ruling dismissing the case against Christopher Cleveland.

McKenna wrote that in this case, Cleveland didn’t have to go to “extraordinary lengths” to take the pictures.

“The images captured were not ‘incidental glimpses’ and in fact were images that were exposed to the public without requiring any extraordinary lengths whatsoever, to view,” she wrote.

She did frown on Cleveland’s “repellent and disturbing” behavior, however.

In September, a Texas court overturned part of a law that banned taking upskirt photos “with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of the defendant.”

In March, after a Massachusetts court ruled that that it was legal for someone to take upskirt photos on public transportation, the state legislature passed a ban on upskirt photos.

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