Court says ‘upskirting’ is not a crime in Georgia
The grocery shopper admitted feeling uneasy when she first noticed a store clerk stooped down behind her as she reached for a carton of milk. Moments later, while picking an item off another shelf, she was aghast to see the same clerk behind her taking a video from a cell phone camera pointed up her skirt.
The clerk, Brandon Lee Gary, would later be charged and convicted of invasion-of-privacy. Prosecutors noted the security camera from the Publix store in Houston County showed Gary had aimed his phone underneath the woman’s skirt at least four times as she walked the aisles.
During the June 2013 incident, Gary engaged in the lewd practice of "upskirting" — the clandestine videotaping of a person's private parts in a public place.
But in a recent decision, the state Court of Appeals threw out Gary’s conviction, finding that no law in Georgia criminalizes such “reprehensible” conduct and saying the Legislature needs to fix that problem.
About the Author
Bill Rankin has been an AJC reporter for more than 30 years. His father, Jim Rankin, worked as an editor for the newspaper for 26 years, retiring in 1986. Bill has primarily covered the state’s court system, doing all he can do to keep the scales of justice on an even keel. Since 2015, he has been the host of the newspaper’s Breakdown podcast.
