The legal side of the Jason Lanier allegations

There was an interesting discussion under the video Jason Lanier is a CREEP by Youtuber David Weller. Jeff Bennion, a photographer and a lawyer from San Diego, chimed in with his expert opinion:

Jeff Bennion Photography: I keep seeing this "GuyS, JAsOn is innocent until proven guilty! Don't you know Law?!" argument all over the internet right now. Let me break it down because on top of being a photographer, I am also a lawyer. That statement refers to the government locking up citizens for crimes they are accused of. What it means is that the government cannot take away someone's liberty until evidence has been presented by both sides and 12 common folk peers from the community (unless a jury trial is waived) evaluate the evidence and give the government the authority to sentence someone. It was a system designed to take authority away from a single person, the judge, and put it in the hands of representatives of the community, who are not legally trained, but simply trained by society on what's right and wrong. In other words, the same people who are watching all of these videos. The terms innocent and guilt have no place in a civil matter and when I hear it, it's the same as when photographers hear "Oh yeah, my iPhone has 12 megapixels and shoots at 1.4. Your lens is a 2.8!" It makes me cringe. There is in fact no system that prevents us, the citizens of the world, from looking at evidence presented by both sides and making up our own minds conclusively as to whether someone is a creep, an arrogant asshole, a person with an overinflated ego, a person who treats his peers like dirt, a person who treats his models like dirt, or any other conclusions you can draw out. None of us here or anywhere in the world need to wait years for limited bits of evidence to be presented to 12 randos and for those 12 randos to make a decision before we look at the same evidence and reach our own conclusions. Never in my life have I ever tried to save $120 by sharing a bed with a model and never in my life would I ever make an hour long video crying about how it's not fair that the women in fact did not like that and the world is being unfair to me. Never in my life would I ever try to save time by grabbing a model's bare thigh and moving it where I want instead of saying "Please drop your thigh" or "Please tuck in that tag." Never in my life would I ever put a BTS video camera directly behind someone's butt as they bend over, defend that decision as the only possible place to get BTS footage, and then accuse Irene Rudnyk of using her butt to get views. I don't know if he did anything illegal, but it's clear he's an asshole. Have any photographers in the industry come to his defense? Where are they? Has a single Sony Artisan come forward and said "This is not right? I love Jason." No, because his ego and asshole behavior have alienated him from everyone in the industry.

A commentator responded with several questions, and Jeff responded back.

Allen A: Your a lawyer? Really why didn't you recommend all parties get off the net, and get an attorney. Or go to the proper authorities with an attorney by your side, is it cause you weren't paid to say that? Who do you work for?

Jeff Bennion Photography: 1. Yes. 2. Because they are not my clients. Jason already has an attorney. I'm not sure if you know how it works, but lawyers are not like police officers. We don't have patrol cars and go around and stop citizens and tell them when there's been a violation of the code of civil procedure or anything. We don't write emails to people we see on youtube send them legal advice or PR advice. 3. This is not a criminal matter, if anything, it's a civil matter, so I'm not sure what you mean by going to the authorities. Am I supposed to go with Jason (and maybe his lawyer) or all 12 of the girls who live all over the Nothern Hemisphere to the police and say that people made videos calling each other liars and assholes and I want them to take care of it? What are the police going to do? Or by authorities, do you mean defamation police? Dementors? Who are the authorities when people call each other names on YouTube? The only authority would be a judge in a civil case filed in state court, something Jason said he's been working on for 14 months. I'm not sure what the hold up is. It takes an afternoon to prepare a defamation complaint and costs $450 filing fee. I don't know what he's been doing in the legal arena for 14 months to get this sorted. 4. I have my own practice, just like Jason's lawyer.

Allen A: @Jeff Bennion Photography Private practice by the name of? And some mentioned sexual contact and harrassment, that's criminal correct? One mentioned contacting the FBI or is that a lie?

Jeff Bennion Photography: @Allen A sexual harassment is not a crime. If you go to the police and tell them that years ago, your boss made you share a bed or that he said inappropriate things, they would tell you those are not crimes. Groping someone is a crime, but they can't do anything if it's past the statute of limitations or if there is no evidence. There is very little the police can do for the limited parts of the allegations that the dozen women have laid forth. That's why the vast majority of these types of claims are handled in civil court. Regardless, I think just about every single woman has stated that the purpose they are making their claims is to stop it from happening to another dozen or two dozen women in the future. That is a valid thing to do. And social media is the proper channel for that. If they had gone to an attorney, that would mean their goal would be to handle everything privately and they wanted money. If they handle everything publicly, then their intention is to bring awareness to issues and to keep it from happening in the future to other women. My recollection is that Sierra mentioned the FBI contacted her, but I might be wrong. Please let me know if you have any other misconceptions that I can help you dispel. I'm sorry your idol had so much evidence against him from so many independent sources across the continent :/ There are plenty of other good and helpful photographer though to replace him as an idol. Look into Francisco first. Possibly Manny or Miguel. Also solid choices.

This is interesting, because so many defenders of Lanier like to use the argument "let the lawyers do the talking". It seems very likely that this scandal won't become a legal matter, but remain an online PR battle for both sides. After that I chimed in with a question:

Taipei Geek: Hi Jeff. What’s your take on the alleged FBI investigation of Lanier that is ongoing since June 2018 as per one of the models. Do you think that is accurate? How long would such an investigation take, and what would it mean legally? It’s been a year already and there’s no update.

Jeff Bennion Photography: @Taipei Geek No idea. You might be able to get details of it with a Freedom of Information Act request. I don't know if there is an investigation or not, but it seems like a weird thing to lie about because it's pretty easy to prove or disprove. The investigation might be closed or who knows why a year later no action has been taken.

Who is Jeff Bennion?

Link: Jeff B.'s Instagram.

Related:

- The downfall of Jason Lanier: Removed as Sony Ambassador
- Jason Lanier removed as Rotolight ambassador