POLITICS

Rep. Jud McMillin sat on committee that refused to hear revenge porn bill

Tony Cook and Chelsea Schneider
tony.cook@indystar.com
Rep. Jud McMillin, R-Brooville, asks questions during a committee hearing Wednesday about cracking down on drug sales. Photo by Megan Banta, TheStatehouseFile.com

Rep. Jud McMillin, who resigned yesterday after a sex video was sent from his cell phone, sat on a committee earlier this year that refused to hear legislation that would have criminalized so-called "revenge porn."

Details surrounding the video sent from McMillin's phone remain unclear, so it's too early to say whether he was a victim of revenge porn, which is the unauthorized release of a picture or video of someone else engaging in sex or in a state of nudity.

But a text message McMillin sent out last week suggested material may have been sent without his permission.

"My phone was stolen in Canada and out of my control for about 24 hours,” the text message said. “I have just been able to reactivate it under my control. Please disregard any messages you received recently. I am truly sorry for anything offensive you may have received."

More than 20 states have passed laws criminalizing “revenge porn” – but Indiana is not one of them.

Rep. Jud McMillin resigns after sex video emerges

Rep. Christina Hale, D-Indianapolis, introduced such legislation in January. But the House Committee on Courts and Criminal Code declined to take it up.

McMillin was chairman of that committee until last year, when he was promoted to majority floor leader. He remains a member of the committee, but it would have been the new chairman, Rep. Tom Washburne, R-Evansville, who made the decision not to hear the Hale’s bill.

Neither he nor McMillin immediately returned messages seeking comment.

"While I do not have an understanding of the facts of this case, revenge porn certainly has hurt a lot of people and their families here in Indiana and even around the world," Hale said Wednesday. "Emerging technology and social media platforms are making our lives easier and better connected, but we also face the darker side of these advances as well."

Under the bill she proposed earlier this year, the person responsible for distributing the images could have been convicted of a B misdemeanor, a crime carrying a sentence of up to 180 days in jail and a fine of $1,000. The bill also would have allowed a victim to file a civil lawsuit against someone convicted of violating the criminal law to recover actual and punitive damages.

Hale said she plans to file the bill again during the upcoming legislative session.

"While my bill did not get heard last session, it is my hope that the cases that have emerged in the meantime will call attention to the need to create laws that will protect us from these new kind of crimes," she said. "Who ever dreamed that we would have teens blackmailing each other with these kinds of images, let alone adults caught up in very bad situations making bad decisions that can ruin careers, and even more sadly, families? Times are changing, and revenge porn is a problem that we need to account for in Indiana law."

Reporter Tim Evans contributed to this story.

Call Star reporter Tony Cook at (317) 444-6081. Follow him on Twitter: @indystartony.