Revenge PICS case dismissed: an ex-bf gets away with posting his former gf's nude pics on twitter and sending them to her job, and family
New York's first “revenge PICS” case was nixed.
A Manhattan judge dismissed criminal charges Tuesday against a man who
shared naked photos of his girlfriend on his Twitter account and also
sent the nudes to her sister and employer.
“The Court concludes that defendant's conduct, while reprehensible,
does not violate any of the criminal statutes under which he is
charged,” Criminal Court Judge Steven Statsinger wrote in a decision
published Wednesday.
Ian Barber, 29, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn uploaded the naughty
images of his ex in July 2013. He was slapped with three counts:
aggravated harassment, dissemination of unlawful surveillance and public
display of offensive sexual material, all misdemeanors.
A detective said the woman told him she never gave Barber permission and that the defendant claimed, in turn, that she did.
The judge concluded that even if there was no permission, current laws are insufficient to sustain the allegations.
Harassment entails sending communications to the victim, which Barber
didn't do; unlawful surveillance requires that the images be obtained
illegally, which wasn't alleged; and nudity alone does not equal
offensive sexual material, a count that also requires public display,
which doesn't include a subscription service like Twitter, the judge
found.
Statsinger noted that “This case appears to the first in which a New
York court has considered criminal charges stemming from what has come
to be known as ‘revenge PICS.’”
Only two states - New Jersey and California - have laws directly
addressing the practice of sharing sexually explicit media without
consent from the pictured person. "Revenge PICS" is typically a way to
get back at an ex who spurned the uploader.
The court document did not specify why Barber sent out the images. His lawyer didn't comment.
I can't believe he beat this!! Hopefully the woman can still sue him in civil court. So if you are into sexting--you could be in her shoes one day...
edited for the grammar police
Edited by Tbaby - Feb 20 2014 at 11:04am