Expectation of privacy challenged

He’s accused of filming people having sex in cars. But is it a crime?

PEMBROKE PINES – Driving a Mini Cooper, a Pembroke Pines man went to multiple parking lots around the city and targeted cars parked in isolated places in order to secretly videotape people having sex, cops say.

But what Kylie Murray didn’t know on Tuesday was that police were following him. He was under surveillance because of a previous report about a suspicious person, police said.

Near dusk at the sprawling parking lot anchored by the Cinemark Paradise movie theater on Sheridan Street, just west of Interstate 75, Murray got out of his car and walked toward a Honda SUV parked along the hedge line — cellphone at the ready — his arrest report said.

“At times Murray would be seen acting in a stealth-like manner, ducking down and peeking over the bushes to look into the CRV,” the report said.

Police later contacted the couple inside the Honda who confirmed they had been having sex, the report said.

Murray, 45, remained under police surveillance as he parked and watched students at the large

campus of Pembroke Pines charter high school and middle school, further west, along the 17100 block of Sheridan Street.

Then, according to the report, Murray drove south and went to the parking lot of the Walmart on Southwest 184th Avenue and Pines Boulevard. There, he parked and made his way toward an isolated Mazda parked near a hedge line.

“Murray was observed behind the Mazda holding his phone with both hands angling the phone towards the vehicle in such a manner as if he was taking a picture or recording the occupants,” the arrest report said.

Later, police spoke to the 16-year-old girl and 17-year boy in the Mazda and they confirmed they had been engaged in a sex act.

“Both occupants were alarmed and very distraught,” after learning what happened, police said.

At that point Murray was arrested and charged with video voyeurism, voyeurism and loitering and prowling.

During an initial court appearance Wednesday, Broward Assistant Public Defender Dale Miller sought minimal bond conditions for Murray disputing

that he should be charged with voyeurism because there’s no expectation of privacy when people are inside vehicles in a public parking lot.

“I think the state is overreaching here, this is a silly case,” Miller said, sparking a quick rebuke from Judge Jackie Powell.

“I disagree with you that’s it’s a silly case,” Powell said.

“Someone making an effort to videotape people having sex, whether or not it’s in a car or whatever, I don’t know how that’s a silly case, I totally disagree.”

Under questioning after his arrest, Murray initially denied the charges against him but then gave different reasons for his actions, according to the arrest report.

He told investigators he was looking for light to see his phone better and that he was “playing Scrabble.” Murray offered to show detectives what was on his phone but then said he couldn’t remember his password.

Powell set bonds for Murray totaling $5,225. He has since bonded out of Broward’s jail.

Efforts to contact Murray for comment Thursday were unsuccessful.