I have a case where guy/girl dated in another county. They broke up and girl moves to my county (yay!). Then she starts getting harassing emails from her ex and learns that he has created a Twitter "blast page" where he is publicly posting pictures of her/them engaging in various sex acts. She reported it to local law enforcement in my county.

He is still living in another county, and I presume, posting the photos from that county. As far as I know, he has never step foot in this county. She lives here, and theoretically anyone in any county with an internet connection can access the images. What county is proper for filing the charges?

The gravamen of the offense is the "disclosure," so I think venue is gonna lie wherever he was when he actually did the "disclosing."

However, if you can't prove where he was when the disclosure occurred, then that puts in you CCP 13.19 territory, and that means if you extradite him to your county to answer the warrant, then venue can be in your county.

Thanks for the response, Jon. I saw the gravamen a little differently as the harm to the victim occurring when others view the material.

I've also always read 13.19 extradition to be limited to out-of-state extradition, since venue is also proper where the defendant is arrested. If I can extradite from another county to my county and gain venue, that works for me.

I think you can make an argument that venue lies where the harm was caused. There's enough to work with there in the statute.

New twist- what if my local officer goes to the neighboring county (where the defendant lives) and arrests the defendant on our warrant? Is the defendant being "extradited" from the other county, or does venue have to lie where he was arrested and lived?