Upskirting photo charge dismissed against Nottingam man

PORTSMOUTH — A Nottingham man found guilty of attempting to take pictures up a woman’s skirt during Market Square Day in 2008 had his charges dropped by a Superior Court judge on Monday after the upskirt victim failed to show up for trial.
Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams said all charges against 63 year old Paul Holter of 55 Smoke St. were dropped by Rockingham County Superior Court Judge Diane M. Nicolosi because the upskirt victim and her husband refused to show up for trial.
“They said they had already missed three days work when the case was in the Portsmouth District Court. said Reams. ” We explained that it was likely that the defendants might get the case dismissed and they understood that may happen.” said Reams
Holter was found guilty of a Class A misdemeanor count of attempted violation of privacy in Portsmouth District Court in April 2009 after a two-day trial. He was sentenced in May and fined $500 and sentenced to a suspended six-month jail term. He was also ordered to undergo a sex-offender evaluation and was banned from using a camera for the next two years.
He appealed the finding to the higher court shortly after his conviction at the district court level.

Prosecutors were refused a rescheduled hearing, and the court dismissed the case. The terms of his original sentence are now void.
During a March 23, 2009, trial, Police Detective Michael Leclair testified a forensic examination of a memory stick for Holter’s digital camera uncovered 15 images with views up women’s skirts. Some had been deleted before Leclair recovered them, two were taken in Prescott Park and all were defined as “upskirting,” Leclair testified. None of the images from Holter’s camera were taken on Market Square Day, Leclair said. Two taken that day showed pavement and grass, which prosecutor Rena DiLando argued were “botched” attempts.

On March 10, 2009, a 30-year-old woman testified she was seated on a curb at Market Square Day when she looked across the street and saw a man, later identified as Holter, taking “indecent” photos of her.