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Iowa prosecutors trying to ensure teens practice safe cell

By Douglas A. Berman

This story from Iowa about a teen being prosecuted for modern cyber-locker-room talk is remarkable for many reasons.  Here are just some of the highlights:High school senior Andy Dougherty sent a 17-year-old buddy a 10-second cell phone video that showed Dougherty with his pants down, fooling around with his teenage girlfriend. The prosecutor in Woodbury County charged Dougherty, 18, with a sex crime: telephone dissemination of obscene material to a minor. The teenager pleaded guilty to a lesser offense this week, but the implications of the original charge have prompted some questions about the state's sex offender laws and may serve as a warning to teens.  If he had been convicted of the sex crime, Dougherty could have spent up to two years in jail and 10 years on the sex offender registry...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on August 21, 2008 (boomark / email).