A Houston woman has been awarded $1.2 billion in a revenge porn lawsuit she brought against her ex-boyfriend after he shared images of her online.
The jury awarded the huge figure more than a year after the woman, identified as Jane Doe, filed the lawsuit in Harris County Civil Court in April 2022.
The filing came six months after she'd broken up with her boyfriend, Marques Jamal Jackson, who she'd been dating since 2016.
The pair had previously lived together in Chicago, and Jackson was said to have had access to the camera system at the woman's mother's home, as well as her phone, social media, email and other login information.
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After they broke up, the woman accused Jackson of watching her on the cameras; posting intimate photos and videos of her on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other websites; and sending the images to the woman's friends, family and colleagues.
Reflecting on her experience, she said: "This type of experience is devastating. It's extremely painful. It's hurtful.
"It's embarrassing and you fear that either something will trigger and it will start again or that the previous effort inspired someone new and then they might start."
The woman described waking up 'every day' checking for photos and videos, saying: "I'm trying to prevent it, I'm trying to constrain it."
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When she attempted to put a stop to his revenge, Jackson sent her an email which read: "Won't change the fact that you will spend the rest of your life trying and failing to wipe yourself off the internet. Everyone you ever meet will hear the story and go looking."
Texas made it a felony in 2015 to share intimate photos or videos of someone without their consent, but when the woman reached out to police she claimed she received little assistance.
"I didn't know that this terrible disgusting cowardice experience had a name and that people were going through it," the woman said.
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She decided to contact a civil attorney, though it wasn't until last week that the case went before a jury.
Jackson didn't show up to the hearing, and it took just 30 minutes for the jury to reach the verdict which saw the woman awarded $1.2 billion - the largest civil verdict in the state of Texas so far in 2023.
Following the result, her attorney, Jacob Schiffer, said: "For the future, anyone thinking of wanting to do this to somebody else that is going to weigh on them like a ball and chain until the date that they're buried."
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The woman is hopeful that her experience will encourage others dealing with revenge porn to come forward and to further the conversation about support for victims.
"You don't necessarily feel empowered that you can do something and that sends the wrong message to the person that does it," she said.
If you are a US resident who has been affected by any of the issues in this article and need help and advice, you can call the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative’s crisis hotline on 844-878-CCRI (2274).
Topics: Crime, US News, Texas, Technology, Sex and Relationships
Emily Brown