Convicted for Being Naked in Own Home, Man Complains of 'Living in a Fishbowl'
Convicted today by a Virginia judge of indecent exposure for walking around naked in his own home without drawing the blinds, Erick Williamson didn’t get any jail time.
But the 29-year-old commercial diver still plans to appeal, even though his sentence included no jail time and no fine. It is possible that his sentence could be increased if he does, reports the Associated Press.
“I think that being tried and found guilty of something like this is outrageous,” says Williamson, who contends that he was simply exercising personal freedom by being nude in his own home. “I feel like I’m living in a fishbowl.”
His lawyer, Dickson Young, argued that the prosecution had failed to prove his client’s conduct satisfied either prong of a Virginia law that defines indecent exposure as requiring “an obscene display or exposure” occuring in “a public place or a place where others are present,” the news agency recounts.
However, Fairfax County Prosecutor Marc Birnbaum and two female witnesses said Williamson had made a point of parading around naked, standing in a picture window and in a doorway for some time and drawing attention to himself by making noise.
Williamson also complained of a double standard, contending that if he had been the one outside looking into a woman’s home the situation would have been handled much differently by authorities, according to the AP article.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Home Alone, Naked Man Didn’t Draw Blinds, Faces Indecent Exposure Rap”
