"Upskirt" photos not illegal, Mass. high court rules

BOSTON - A man who took cell phone photos up the skirts of women riding the Boston subway did not violate state law because the women were not nude or partially nude, Massachusetts' highest court ruled Wednesday.

The Supreme Judicial Court overruled a lower court that had upheld charges against Michael Robertson, who was arrested in August 2010 by transit police who set up a sting after getting reports that he was using his cell phone to take photos and video up female riders' skirts and dresses.

The ruling immediately prompted top Beacon Hill lawmakers to pledge to update state law.

Existing so-called Peeping Tom laws protect people from being photographed in dressing rooms and bathrooms when nude or partially nude, but the way the law is written, it does not protect clothed people in public areas, the court said.

"A female passenger on a MBTA trolley who is wearing a skirt, dress, or the like covering these parts of her body is not a person who is 'partially nude,' no matter what is or is not underneath the skirt by way of underwear or other clothing," the court said in its ruling.

The SJC said that while such actions should be illegal, they are not, given the way state law is written.

Suffolk County prosecutors said their interpretation of the state's Peeping Tom law was that "upskirt" photos are illegal.

"The only solution now is to ask the Legislature to rewrite the statutes," said Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney's office.

A telephone message left with Michelle Menken, Robertson's attorney, was not immediately returned.

Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo said lawmakers are working to find a way to clarify the law.

"The ruling of the Supreme Judicial Court is contrary to the spirit of the current law. The House will begin work on updating our statutes to conform with today's technology immediately," DeLeo said in a written statement Wednesday.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said that Transit Police support the Suffolk County District Attorney's efforts to work with the Legislature in rewriting the statute. He did not say what the MBTA could do in the meantime to prevent the activity.