A bill banning the distribution of intimate pictures or videos of a person without that person’s knowledge, also known as “revenge porn,” won final approval from the Wyoming Senate on Monday.
The Wyoming Senate passed House Bill 85 on its third reading Monday, with 29 senators voting to approve it (the other senator was excused). The bill will now be sent back to the House for its review of any Senate changes to the bill and if approved there, it will be sent to Gov. Mark Gordon, who will decide whether to sign the bill into law.
The bill would create a law making the act of distributing intimate images (sending out videos/photos depicting people in a sexual act) of another person without that person’s knowledge a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and/or a $5,000 fine.
During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the bill on March 19, sponsor Rep. Clark Stith, R-Rock Springs, told committee members that the bill would add an important element to Wyoming’s criminal laws.
“What is commonly known as ‘revenge porn’ is not a crime in Wyoming and there are only a handful of states where this isn’t a crime,” Stith said.
Stith, an attorney, said he became aware of this issue because he had a client who engaged in “revenge porn,” but the local prosecutor was in a challenging situation because the act was not illegal.
“He either had to charge nothing or he had to try and shoehorn the conduct into some other category,” Stith said. “Your typical case is where you’ve got a jilted boyfriend who then has an intimate image that he initially got consensually from his ex.”
Stith explained the ex-boyfriend will be upset and post the image to social media or find another way to use it to humiliate a woman.
He added that the charges against his client were eventually dropped.
“From a lawyer’s point of view that sounds like a victory, but it didn’t really feel like justice, frankly,” Stith said.
