A statement from the D.C. Superior Court clarified the judge’s ruling did not apply to “upskirting.” Our post has been amended.

Amended post

In dismissing a case, a D.C. judge said that women at the Lincoln Memorial sitting on the steps have no expectation of privacy, and therefore should be prepared for the possibility that someone is photographing any of their exposed body parts.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Juliet McKenna dismissed charges against Christopher Cleveland, who was charged by U.S. Park Police last year with taking photos of the “crotches and buttocks” of women sitting on the memorial’s steps with a telephoto lens. WJLA reports:

“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,” wrote Judge Juliet McKenna in her ruling on a motion to suppress evidence in the case against Christopher Cleveland.

“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,” the judge concluded.

The judge did note that “intentionally photographing publicly exposed areas of women’s clothed and unclothed bodies, including the upper portion of their buttocks, waistband of their underwear and the outline of their buttocks and breasts visible through their clothing, is repellent and disturbing. However, the actions as observed by the Park Police on June 19, 2013 do not provide a sufficient legal basis for the officer to initiate a non-consensual stop or to place Mr. Cleveland under arrest.”

She wrote that, while the government characterized the photos as “upskirt,” “there is no evidence that the defendant positioned his camera on the steps of the Memorial or otherwise underneath individuals’ clothing in order to capture clothed or concealed portions of the body.”

According to court records, the government was not ready to proceed with the case after a decision was made to suppress evidence and statements. The case was dismissed and closed in September.

In March, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that the state’s peeping Toms law did not apply to upskirt photos “because the women who were photographed while riding Boston public transportation were not nude or partially nude.” The state made taking such photos illegal just days later.