Upskirt Photos Taken At Lincoln Memorial Were Legal, Judge Rules

A Virginia judge ruled Friday that a man taking "upskirt" photos of women at the Lincoln Memorial was not breaking any law. The judge said the man taking the photos was doing something "repelling and disturbing" -- but not illegal.

DC Superior Court Judge Juliet McKenna dismissed voyeur charges, acts of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, against Christopher Cleveland. Cleveland was stopped by U.S. Park Police last year after he was caught taking photos of women on the steps above him.

"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 D.C. Superior Court Judge Juliet McKenna in her ruling. Police officers found photos of women's private parts, but the judge said they were not illegal and that officers had no authority to search the camera.

"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 said.