ATLANTA (AP) — A man admitted he surreptitiously took cellphone video up a woman’s skirt while she shopped at a grocery store, but a Georgia court said he didn’t break the law.
A divided Georgia Court of Appeals this month tossed out the conviction of former grocery store employee Brandon Lee Gary, who recorded videos up a woman’s skirt – known as “upskirting” – while she shopped. The 6-3 majority opinion said Gary’s behavior, while reprehensible, doesn’t violate the state’s invasion of privacy law, under which he was prosecuted.
In a ruling issued July 15, Judge Elizabeth Branch said it is “regrettable that no law currently exists which criminalizes Gary’s reprehensible conduct.
“Unfortunately, there is a gap in Georgia’s criminal statutory scheme, in that our law does not reach all of the disturbing conduct that has been made possible by ever-advancing technology.”
In a strongly worded dissent, Judge Amanda Mercier argued there is no gap in the law, and that Gary’s actions were clearly illegal.
No one disputes the facts of the case: Gary aimed his cellphone’s camera up the woman’s skirt at least four times as she walked through the aisles of a Publix grocery store in Houston County, about 100 miles south of Atlanta.
An indictment charged him with violating the state’s invasion of privacy law, which prohibits “the use of any device, without the consent of all persons observed, to observe, photograph, or record the activities of another which occur in any private place and out of public view.”
Whether Gary’s behavior violates that law hinges on how the word “place” is interpreted. The law defines a place as a physical location, not an area of the body, the majority opinion says.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less