You know you are old if you feel like cameras are everywhere; if you are young, then this is how your world has always been. The fact that phones that are within the budget of anyone with employment income and sufficient buy now pay later (BNPL) savvy can store as much video footage as myriad Camcorders could in the 80s seems miraculous to the geriatric set. It is wonderful that, whenever your grandkids do something cute, you can just take out your phone and record, and then you can rewatch those videos to cheer yourself up when your grandkids are so old that all they do is stare at their own phones with that look of boredom that has been the uniform of adolescence since you were a teenager.
Likewise, having a camera in your pocket at all times makes it a lot easier to persuade the insurance company that a car accident was not your fault; you can photograph your vehicle damage and email it to the insurance company as soon as it happens. No matter your age, all that filming can feel intrusive sometimes. Do you really have to smile for the camera and look grateful when you open your Christmas present from your grandma? Can’t you just send a handwritten thank-you note? Journalists are even saying that nightclub patrons don’t dance anymore because they are afraid of strangers filming them and posting videos of their awkward dance moves online. Most instances of video recording are legal, but you can face criminal charges for recording people without their consent.
If you are facing criminal charges for invasive visual recording, contact a Texas sex crime attorney.
Is Invasive Visual Recording a Sex Offense?
Charges of invasive visual recording apply if the defendant records video footage of another person without that person’s consent and with the intention of invading the filmed person’s privacy. For example, filming passersby on a beach boardwalk is not invasive visual recording, but installing a camera in someone’s house without their consent is.
Invasive visual recording can count as a sex offense if the video recorded without the subject’s consent is of a sexually suggestive nature or contains nudity. For example, police found a video camera in a women’s restroom of a restaurant in Harris County. The video footage it had recorded showed a woman and a young girl, presumably her daughter, using a bathroom stall. An employee of the restaurant is facing charges for invasive video recording, since prosecutors allege that he was the one who placed the camera in the bathroom. Because the video contains partial nudity, prosecutors are treating the case as a sex crime case, which means that the defendant must register as a sex offender if he is convicted.
Contact the Law Office of Patrick J. McLain, PLLC, About Criminal Defense Cases
A Dallas criminal defense lawyer can help you fight charges involving invasive visual recording. Contact the Law Office of Patrick J. McLain, PLLC in Dallas, Texas to discuss your case.