Charges have been dropped against a Virginia man accused of voyeurism for taking pictures of women as they were seated on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Prosecutors moved to drop charges late last month after a judge ruled that the women had no expectation of privacy as they sat on the steps.
D.C. Superior Court Judge Juliet McKenna determined that photos taken by Christopher Cleveland did not "capture hidden parts of the body, but rather portions of the body exposed by the individual's voluntary physical position and the fit and fabric of the clothing worn."
Cleveland, a resident of Springfield, Virginia, was arrested in June 2013 by U.S. Park Police officers after they saw him taking the photos. Cleveland's lawyer argued that the actions did not meet the legal definition of voyeurism.
McKenna said the photo merely captured what was publicly visible at the same.
While she ruled that Cleveland's actions were not illegal, she called his conduct "repellent and disturbing."
The D.C. Superior Court clarified in a statement after the ruling that the case involved a voyeurism charge and was not an "upskirting" case as defined by law.
McKenna said there was "no evidence that [the defendant] positioned his camera in any way, or employed photographic techniques... so as to capture images that were not already on public display."
