Charges Dismissed for Following Women with a Camera

Charges Dismissed for Following Women with a Camera
Short Title Tennessee Appeals Court Judges Dismiss Charges Against A Man Following Women With a Camera
Location Tennessee
Date April 2020

Solove Harm Surveillance, Intrusion
Information Physical Characteristics, Behavioral, Identifying
Threat Actors David Lambert, Tennessee appeals court judges

Individuals
Affected Females
High Risk Groups Females
Tangible Harms Anxiety, Embarrassment

A man in Tennessee was trailing women with a camera. He pointed his phone at their breasts and buttocks but because he was in public he committed no crime, an appeals court concluded.

Description

In April 2020 in Tennessee a 40 y.o. man, named David Lambert was trailing women in public places filming their breasts and buttocks. He followed women around a Dollar Tree, a Hobby Lobby, and a Walmart each time holding a camera clearly trained on their breasts or buttocks. This can be interpreted as Surveillance.

He was convicted for unlawful photography, and three separate Tennessee appeals court judges, all men, threw out all three of Mr. Lambert’s convictions for unlawful filming and dismissed the charges. They concluded his actions weren’t illegal because the women were in public places.

The affected women testified that Mr. Lambert followed them around with a “really creepy grin”, grabbed them, pinched them, and made lewd comments. This is an example of Intrusion.

They called the appeals court decisions “devastating”, and testified to how uncomfortable Mr. Lambert had made them feel.

The conviction for the attempted battery was affirmed.

David Lampert is also known for a similar case in 2018 in Southwest Virginia, where he was found guilty of attempt to commit unlawful photographing and was sentenced with up to six months in jail on top of two years, 11 months and 27 days for another case from 2017.

Laws and Regulations

Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/us/privacy-laws-public-tennessee.html
https://www.timesnews.net/Law-Enforcement/2018/07/17/Indecent-photos-of-Kingsport-shoppers-spurs-max-sentence
https://www.timesnews.net/Law-Enforcement/2017/11/02/Man-convicted-for-photographing-groping-Kingsport-shopper