Taking a photograph of a witness is intimidation

It is interesting that the Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld the ruling of a lower court which held that pointing a cell phone camera at a witness in a criminal case was witness intimidation, even if no picture was actually taken but the witness feared that his or her picture has been or could be taken and published.

The Associate Justice R. Marc Kantrowitz held that “It is irrelevant whether any photographs were taken, as the police officer was made to believe that the defendant was taking pictures of him and could disseminate his likeness, an act intended to intimidate”.

It is interesting because taking a photograph of a person in plain view is not illegal as long as it is not published, but in this case the issue was not the legality of actually taking the picture but witness intimidation. Read here.