Jury awards $1.2 billion to Houston woman in 'revenge porn' lawsuit

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- After a year of having her personal information posted online by her ex-boyfriend, a jury awarded a Houston woman $1.2 billion this week.

The woman, who is being identified as Jane Doe, filed the lawsuit in Harris County Civil Court in April 2022.

In the petition, the woman said she began a dating relationship with Marques Jamal Jackson in 2016. The two officially broke up in October 2021. During the relationship, the pair lived together in Chicago.

Jackson apparently had access to the camera system at Jane Doe's mother's home, her phone, social media, email and other login information.

After they broke up, the suit says that he watched her on the cameras at her mother's home and posted intimate photos and videos of her on various websites including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Dropbox, among other websites.

Jackson also sent the images to her family, friends, and colleagues, according to the victim.

"This type of experience is devastating," the woman said. "It's extremely painful. It's hurtful. It's embarrassing and you fear that either something will trigger and it will start again or that the previous effort inspired someone new and then they might start."

Jane Doe said that it went on for about a year.

"Every day was me, wake up, I'm checking, I'm trying to prevent it, I'm trying to constrain it," the woman said.

When she tried to intervene with Jackson, she said it would get worse.

He sent her an email that said, "Won't change the fact that you will spend the rest of your life trying and failing to wipe yourself off the internet. Everyone you ever meet will hear the story and go looking."

In fact, Texas made it a felony in 2015 to share intimate photos or videos of someone without their consent. In 2019, the law was updated to include the intention of harming the person.

When Jane Doe reached out to police, she said she received little assistance, so she contacted a civil attorney.

"This was the first case that we have taken," lead attorney Bradford Glide said. "Sadly, it's not the first case or first example."

Statistics published through the National Association of Attorney Generals show that 2% of Americans reported being the victim of nonconsensual porn in 2016. That number rose by more than 100% in 2017 and jumped 400% by 2019. The statistics found that women ages 18-29 and the LGBTQ+ population were targeted the most.

"I didn't know that this terrible disgusting cowardice experience had a name and that people were going through it," Jane Doe said.

The case went before a jury this week. Jackson did not show up. It lasted one day and the jury deliberated for 30 minutes.

Ultimately, she was awarded $1.2 billion, which is more than her attorneys said they asked for. That is the largest civil verdict in the state of Texas so far in 2023.

"For the future, anyone thinking of wanting to do this to somebody else that is going to weigh on them like a ball and chain until the date that they're buried," Jane Doe's attorney, Jacob Schiffer, said.

She hopes that her experience encourages others dealing with revenge porn to come forward and to push forward the conversation about protections for victims.

"You don't necessarily feel empowered that you can do something and that sends the wrong message to the person that does it," she said.

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