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FARMINGTON, Utah (AP) — A Utah man who pleaded guilty in a case that spurred lawmakers to revise state law against so-called revenge porn was sentenced to 60 days in jail Tuesday.
Shon Handrahan, 31, apologized during a Tuesday court appearance, saying he wasn't in his right mind when he sent the graphic images of his estranged wife in 2012.
"I'm really sorry for what I've done. If I had been in the right mind, I wouldn't have done it," he said.
Prosecutors asked for more jail time, arguing that sending the intimate images violated the trust between husband and wife.
"I don't really see much accepting responsibility," prosecutor Nathan Lyon said. Authorities say he texted numerous nude pictures of her to acquaintances after she ignored about 100 text messages from him, some of them threatening. The images were accompanied by the words, "'what do you think of your little angel now?'" Lyon said.
"This wasn't just something he did all of a sudden, this was something that had been building up all day long," Lyon said.
Defense attorney Edward Brass argued Handrahan had accepted responsibility by pleading guilty in the case. Handrahan agreed to a deal with prosecutors last month, pleading to two felony counts of distributing pornographic material and two misdemeanor counts of electronic communication harassment. Five other counts were dismissed.
Handrahan's ex-wife supported the deal, which prosecutors considered fair, Lyon has said. The victim wanted to resolve the case after public attention and media coverage became difficult for her.
Judge David Connors called the offense egregious and also imposed three years of probation Tuesday, but said the case could be transferred to Handrahan's new home state of Oregon.
Handrahan has already served 90 days in jail. The Ogden Standard-Examiner newspaper reports that Brass says his client was on pain medication when he sent the images.
The case helped lead Utah lawmakers to pass a bill that forbids the sharing of images without the consent of the person pictured. A first offense is a misdemeanor, and repeat offenses are felonies.
Handrahan was charged before the new law took effect, under old statutes.
Democratic Representative Marie Poulson of Salt Lake City pushed for the law, saying the practice most often targets women and can cause some to lose their jobs.
Thirteen states, including Utah, have passed laws to punish "revenge porn" in the past two years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
A law passed in Arizona last year was put on hold by a federal judge in November after a civil rights groups sued on constitutional grounds. The Arizona House approved a revision earlier this month that the bill's sponsor says should fix the problems, but civil liberties advocates say the changes don't fully address the concerns raised by publishers and photographers.
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