Eric Williamson was aquitted of an indecent exposure charge made against him last October. Williamson was in his own kitchen drinking coffee, sans clothing one morning. A woman, cutting through his yard with her kid, saw him through the screen door and said he made eye contact with her. She called the police who entered Williamson’s home without a warrant and swore that the glass was broken on one of the entrance doors.
Channel 5 news states:
SPRINGFIELD, Va. – One key piece of evidence that prosecutors were hoping to send a Springfield man to jail for being naked in his home ended up being the crucial clue that swayed the jury to find him not guilty of indecent exposure.
Williamson says the photos convinced a jury that he had no idea that two women saw him drinking coffee naked in his kitchen that October morning.
One of those women was taking a shortcut with her daughter through Williamson’s yard when she says she made eye contact with the 29-year-old as he stood naked inside his house in front of his screen door.
Police introduced this photo saying her vantage point was about 25 feet away. But the defense says they proved she was actually 83 feet from his door.
Now Williamson says he wants people to realize how easy it is to be charged with a crime like this and how difficult it is to rebuild your life, even after a jury says you have done nothing wrong.
“It’s great to be not guilty but I still have a lot of wreckage to deal with. A lot of things that were torn apart because of what happened,” said Williamson.
By the time the jury found him not guilty, six months had passed and Williamson had been laid off, lost visitation rights with his young daughter and racked up $15,000 in legal bills.
The commercial diver and his lawyer say this case shows you are not always safe inside your own home. They want to draw attention to the “community caretaker exception” which lets police search a home or car without a warrant based on concerns for public safety or suspicion that a crime has or is about to happen.
Why can’t you be in the buff in your own house? Didn’t we read earlier that the peeking Thomasina was the wife of a Fairfax County policeman? This is just a horrible story. To quote Elena, it sounds more like a peeping Thomasina than a coffee drinking perv. Who says a man’s home is his castle? Are any of us safe?
Full Story at myfoxdc.com
