UTICA  — A bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Marianne Buttenschon, D-119, Marcy, that creates criminal and civil penalties for disseminating personal images has been signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul, Buttenschon’s office announced Thursday.

The legislation establishes the crimes of unlawful dissemination of a personal image in the first- and second-degrees and creates a right of private action for such offenses. The Senate bill was sponsored by Diane J. Savino, D-23, Staten Island, and co-sponsored by Joseph A. Griffo, R-47, Rome.

The bill was named for Bianca Devins, a 17-year-old Utica teen who was stabbed to death in July 2019 after attending an out-of-town concert with her attacker, Brandon Clark, who took photographs of her body and posted them on social media. 

Buttenschon said that in the wake of the tragedy, the response to the spread of these photographs by social media sites — including Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter — has been widely criticized as slow and inconsistent. 

After Devins’ attacker posted the photos online, other people began posting them to various social media platforms, as well as sending them directly to the victim’s family, a statement continues.

According to Buttenschon’s office, previously, there were no criminal charges for posting these types of graphic images online, leaving families of victims to suffer even more from seeing these pictures and preventing them from pressing charges.

“Bianca’s Law will help prevent future victims and families from enduring this type of pain by establishing the crimes of unlawful dissemination of a personal image in the first and second degrees and creating a right of private action for such offenses,” notes a statement.

In February 2020, Clark pleaded guilty in Oneida County Court to second-degree murder and is currently serving a maximum sentence of 25 years to life.

See a related story about the case here.