Did Anthony Weiner Commit a Crime?

It's the biggest sex scandal of the week, but is it a sex crime?   New photos surfaced on TMZ Monday, showing Congressman Anthony Weiner taking semi-naked pictures of himself with his Blackberry in the mirrors of a Congressional gym. Certainly stupid, possibly pathological.  But were any of the Congressman's actions criminal?

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Professor Howard Ellerman of Folsom Lake College had a great analysis on Weiner's reckless sexting. Check out his full blog here.  Here are some good points Prof. Ellerman makes:

The question is whether Congressman Weiner violated any criminal or civil laws, or ethical standards in his conduct, and what would be the consequences if he did. These facts are undisputed: Congressman Weiner now admits that he:

Took pictures of himself in various lewd or sexually suggestive positions
Sent them, along with sexually explicit texts, to at least six women who are, according to him, as young as 21 over the course of three years;
In the process of trying to tweet the picture to one of them, he inadvertently published a picture of his turgid penis in boxer briefs, making it and her identity available to his 45,000 Twitter followers for less than an hour;
Took other pictures of himself in various forms of undress — some apparently from his office — and sent them privately to other women; and then
Lied about the twittered picture when it was discovered, saying he didn't send it but allowing that it might be him

Criminal Statues Implicated:

 Cyberstalking or sending pornography to children. If any of the women he was conversing with was under 18, criminal cyber-stalking laws would come into play. Ignorance of their age is not relevant.

Using federal resources for personal use. If that is Weiner's congressional office in the photos, or computers at the office or phone lines were used, anything but de minimus use of them for personal use would violate federal law. There is no possible way to define these actions as constituent services, given their purely private nature and the fact that the participants were not, as far as we can tell, voters in his district.

Lewd Conduct. There are state statues that variously criminalize the depiction or showing of an erect penis in public, even if it is covered. Washington and D.C. law would come into play. Further, there is an allegation that there is another picture out there of an explicit nature; that picture would be subject to the same state laws. However, both crimes require a victim, and no one here seems to be complaining about receiving the pictures.

Lying to Federal Investigators in the context of an investigation is a violation of federal law and a felony — just ask Martha Stewart, who served jail time for it. It looks like Weiner was careful to avoid asking for a federal investigation based on his lies; time will tell if in private conversations with Capitol police or the FBI he lied. If he did, it's a crime.

　

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