Upskirt photo case tossed out: Creepshots don't violate women's privacy, judge rules

A Virginia man facing charges of voyeurism after taking 'upskirt' photos of women at the Lincoln Memorial had his case dismissed by a female judge who stated that women should have no expectation of privacy in a public place.

According to ABC 7, D.C. Superior Court Judge Juliet McKenna ruled in favor of Christopher Cleveland of Springfield, Virginia, tossing out numerous photos of women’s crotches and buttocks found on Cleveland's camera presented as evidence by prosecutors.

Cleveland was arrested by U.S. Park Officers in June of 2013 after being observed photographing women wearing dresses who were seated above him on the Lincoln Memorial steps.

Judge McKenna dismissed the charges against Cleveland, writing, “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."

Explaining the reasoning behind her decision, McKenna wrote, “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.”

McKenna added that, while Cleveland's actions were not illegal, she found them unsettling.

“The fact that the Defendant was intentionally photographing publicly exposed areas of women’s clothed and unclothed bodies … is repellent and disturbing,” she wrote.

A Texas court recently threw out a law banning upskirt photos, stating the photos  are “inherently expressive” – like paintings, films, and books – and are protected by the First Amendment.

In Massachusetts, the State Supreme Court threw out a case against a man accused of taking upskirt photos of women on a Boston subway train, citing a loophole in the state's recently enacted Peeping Tom Law stating that the law "does not apply to photographing… persons who are fully clothed."

Watch the video below from ABC7: