Law Makes Video Voyeurism a Felony

Not sure if any of you remember this case but it is great to know that the lawmakers are taking some action!

This ran in Newsday today.

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Law Makes Video Voyeurism a Felony
Penalties toughened to safeguard privacy

By Ann Givens
ALBANY BUREAU

June 12, 2003

Albany - Moved to action by a Bay Shore woman who was unknowingly filmed in bed by her landlord, state lawmakers announced yesterday that they will make video voyeurism a felony.

'Stephanie's Law' is named for Stephanie Fuller, who has been fighting for tougher penalties since her landlord pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor, and was given no jail time.

The new law will make it a felony to film someone where they have a 'reasonable expectation of privacy,' to put a camera under a woman's skirt, or to disseminate videos of this type. Perpetrators will be put in the state's sex offenders registry and can be punished with 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison.

Gov. George Pataki said at a news conference yesterday that New Yorkers have been 'victimized by hidden cameras and activity that deprives them of their privacy. Soon that depravity will be a felony punishable by jail time.'

The three-way press conference - at which Pataki, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick) and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) all spoke - marked a rare moment of consensus in what has been a contentious legislative session. Relations among the three leaders have been sticky since Bruno and Silver led their delegations to override Pataki's budget vetos last month.

They said the law would probably be signed within the next few days.

Video voyeurism came to public attention in 2001, when Fuller's boyfriend found a camera in her smoke detector after hearing a noise in the crawl space above her bedroom. Fuller and her boyfriend then traced the wires in the smoke detector to a television and VCR inside her landlord's bedroom upstairs.

Fuller's landlord, William Schultz, was given 3 years' probation, 280 hours of community service and a $1,468 fine. Fuller was so outraged by Schultz's sentence that she took her complaint to the Legislature.

'I think this is a really good day for women in the state of New York,' Fuller said at yesterday's news conference. 'We no longer have to be afraid that these people will go unpunished. They will pay for their crimes now.'
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.

Re: Law Makes Video Voyeurism a Felony

It is a shock that this wasn't a felony to begin with!!!!!

Re: Law Makes Video Voyeurism a Felony

I just re-read his 'punishement' i woudl be SOOOO PISSED if my landlord got a fine less that 1500 and nothing else! Just goes to show how the laws in this country are biased.

Re: Law Makes Video Voyeurism a Felony

Finally!!! The laws need to catch up with the technology available today!!