Maryland has laws making it a criminal offense to share sexually explicit photos and videos without consent. Also known as “revenge porn,” this illegal content often gets posted online by ex-partners or hackers aiming to emotionally harm and humiliate the person depicted.
The Old Line State has had its own issues with revenge porn. The mayor of a small town in Maryland was recently charged with several counts of posting revenge porn.
Maryland revenge porn statute
Maryland Criminal Law Code Sec. 3-809 forbids the intentional distribution of visual private representations that expose intimate body parts or show sexual activity, when done to harm, harass, intimidate, threaten or coerce the person depicted.
Other elements includes that the other person did not consent to the distribution and that the other person had a reasonable expectation that visual depiction would remain private.
What prosecutors must prove
To convict someone under Maryland’s revenge porn law, prosecutors must establish that the sharing of private visual content was done with the intent to cause the person in the video content serious emotional distress. While some states only require proving the images were shared without consent, Maryland sets a higher bar by adding the “emotional distress” stipulation. Some say this is a tough standard to meet. One expert told the New York Times that the “emotional distress” standard protects people who say they posted photos for profit or because they didn’t think the individual in the photo would care.
Maryland penalties for revenge porn
Revenge porn in Maryland is a misdemeanor. It’s punishable by up to two years in jail and a fine of up to $5,000 or both for each count. In the instance of the Maryland mayor, he posted so many explicit photos online of an ex-girlfriend that he was facing $250,000 in fines and 50 years in jail.
Rising cases nationally
Revenge porn and online harassment reports rapidly increased during the pandemic when more people spent time online. But it is against the law nationwide. Nearly all states now have laws criminalizing nonconsensual pornographic content sharing. Maryland’s revenge porn law went into effect in 2014 and establishes serious penalties for convicted offenders. However, high standards of proof mean convictions rely on prosecutors’ ability to demonstrate malicious intent behind sharing explicit media without consent.
Maronick Law, LLC is open during the pandemic and will continue to meet your Annapolis, Baltimore, Essex, Ocean City, Towson, White Marsh revenge porn criminal defense attorney needs. If you need an attorney to defend your rights over accusations of revenge porn, you should talk to an Ocean City revenge porn lawyer.
If you have access to Zoom, we can meet with you remotely. The consultation is free. You can contact the law office at 410-402-5571 or via the website.