Erick Williamson Convicted for Drinking Coffee Naked In His Own House!

By: Ryan Smith
Topics: Daily Blotter

(AP)

(Personal Photo)

FAIRFAX, Va. (CBS/AP) In the privacy of his own home, Erick Williamson likes to drink his morning coffee in the buff, a fact that got several of his suburban Virginia neighbors steamed.

Photo: Eric Williamson.

Now, a jury of his fully-clothed peers has convicted Williamson of indecent exposure because two women said they saw him naked while walking by the windows of his house in October. He received neither jail time nor a fine, but is appealing anyway, saying a larger principle is at stake.

"I think that being tried and found guilty of something like this is outrageous," said the single father after he was convicted and sentenced. "I feel like I'm living in a fishbowl."

Photo: Eric Williamson.

Williamson testified that he never intended to expose himself and was simply exercising "personal freedom" as he spent several hours naked in his Springfield home packing up belongings.

Police, prosecutors and two witnesses, though, said Williamson's actions were designed to draw attention to himself.

The first woman, school librarian Joyce Giuliani, said she heard some loud singing as she left her home and drove to work. As she drove by Williamson's home, she saw him naked, standing directly behind a large picture window.

A few hours later, Yvette Dean was walking her 7-year-old son to school along a trail that runs by Williamson's home.

She heard a loud rattle, looked to her left and saw Williamson standing naked, full frontal, in a side doorway.

"He gave me eye contact," Dean said, but otherwise made no gestures toward her or her son.

As she turned the corner, she looked back at the home, in disbelief at what she had just seen. Again, she saw Williamson, naked in the same picture window.

One of Williamson's housemates testified that Williamson had been nude well before dawn. Timothy Baclit said that he woke up around 5 a.m. to go to work and saw Williamson walking around "naked ... with a hard hat."

He said he warned Williamson that he would be visible to passersby, but that Williamson did not respond.

Williamson, 29, said the conversation with Baclit never occurred and that he never noticed that two women had seen him. He said "it did not occur to me" that people outside the home might see him naked.

Regardless of whether he was seen, Williamson's conduct does not constitute indecent exposure, said his attorney, Dickson Young.

Under Virginia law, the charge requires "an obscene display or exposure" and must occur in "a public place or a place where others are present."

Young argued that neither condition had been met.

"Mere nudity is insufficient to declare conduct obscene," Young said, noting that none of the women testified that Williamson was aroused or that he made any sort of obscene gesture. "Nudity in one's own home is not a crime."

Fairfax County Prosecutor Marc Birnbaum said the witness testimony shows that he intended to expose himself to the women by making himself visible for extended periods of time and drawing attention to himself by making rattling noises and singing.

"No one deserves to see it, certainly not a young child," Birnbaum said.

Birnbaum sought jail time for Williamson, but General District Judge Ian M. O'Flaherty imposed only a suspended sentence, meaning that Williamson will serve no jail time if he keeps out of trouble.

If Williamson follows through on his plans to appeal, though, a circuit court judge could impose a tougher punishment, technically up to a year in jail.

Williamson's Oct. 24 arrest received national attention and spurred debate about the boundaries of acceptable nudity.

Kent Willis, director of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said there is no line that defines what is acceptable in these types of cases.

"How you define public and private space depends on the behavior that's taking place," Willis said. He said that if the case is pursued through appellate courts, it could potentially provide more clarity on what constitutes indecent exposure in Virginia.

Williamson, a commercial diver who has since moved out of Fairfax County, said he was shocked by the verdict. He suggested after the hearing that he was the victim of a double standard.

"If I was looking in her window, I think we'd be having a whole different conversation," he said.

WHAT DO YOU THINK: Was this indecent exposure or an obscene abuse of the law?

MORE ON CRIMESIDER
October 23, 2009 - Brewed Awakening: Man Busted for Drinking Coffee Naked in His Own House

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by nalexandra09 August 18, 2010 6:13 PM EDT: Here's my point of view:
If you're singing loudly in the shower...does that constitute as drawing attention to yourself?
If you're fully clothed and making noises downstairs (Making coffee, cleaning, watching TV, etc), is that drawing attention to yourself?
What if you were naked? I get the feeling that he was going about his duty naked, nothing more. NEWSFLASH: PEOPLE MAKE NOISE IN THE MORNING. There's nothing we can do. He could have been drawing attention to himself, but I honestly don't think so.
I read an article on this a while ago and it said that the lady was cutting through his property as a shortcut, but I don't know.; Reply to this comment


by complique December 24, 2009 9:52 AM EST: You Americans are so god damn crazy, it's unbelievable!! From the point of view of an european ..; Reply to this comment


by displeased December 23, 2009 1:59 PM EST: You folks are missing half the story. It's not about somebody hanging out naked in their home. It's about somebody using an opportunity to flash himself at women and children. If you're walking down a street with your kid and you hear a noise or loud singing next to you, don't you think you'll look? Or are you the type of people that stare straight ahead when you walk? These people going to work and school aren't peeping toms. They are on a public street.; Reply to this comment


by iirishamerican December 23, 2009 1:38 PM EST: If I as a man walked by a womans window while she were naked and saw her naked I would be sitting in jail right now for peeping, but since it is a woman walking by a mans window while he is naked it's suddenly his fault. What the? = rights has to be a two way street not lets strip some right of one to give to another.; Reply to this comment


by iirishamerican December 23, 2009 1:38 PM EST: If I as a man walked by a womans window while she were naked and saw her naked I would be sitting in jail right now for peeping, but since it is a woman walking by a mans window while he is naked it's suddenly his fault. What the? = rights has to be a two way street not lets strip some right of one to give to another.; Reply to this comment


by mym82 December 23, 2009 12:13 PM EST: Why weren't they arrested for being peeping toms???; Reply to this comment


by darwufche December 23, 2009 12:07 PM EST: Stop gawking into other peoples windows you perverts.; Reply to this comment


by cvanoff December 23, 2009 11:25 AM EST: I wouldn't go so far to say it's indecent, but it's definitely a clear indication of a lack of common sense. I had a couple of close encounters, as a child, with some seedy individuals, and I can tell you, based on my experiences, that most young children would be upset at the sight of a full frontal nude adult, no matter which gender.; Reply to this comment

by scottyusa December 23, 2009 9:10 AM EST

I am drinking coffee in the buff right now in my own home. Come arrest me..

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by displeased December 23, 2009 9:33 AM EST: Are you attracting attention to yourself as women and children walk by?


by displeased December 23, 2009 9:05 AM EST: This guy seems like a pervert to me. Nothing wrong with running around naked, but why would you stand at the door singing and making noise while children and women walk by? This guy either has no common sense or he's pushing the limits of the decency laws. Something you don't want to do in a suburbia neighborhood.; Reply to this comment