Principal's Pasting of Schoolgirls' Heads on Women's Nude Bodies Not Child Porn, Says Appeals Ct.
A Florida appeals court today reversed the child pornography conviction of a former elementary school principal serving a five-year prison term after finding that the face photos of 11- and 12-year-old students he apparently pasted over the heads of nude adult women in other photographs weren’t illegal under state law.
What the court called “disturbing” images were found in defendant John Stelmack’s briefcase, in a closet in his office, during a 2007 investigation of the then-Scott Lake Elementary School.principal for possible inappropriate hugging of fifth-grade girls, according to the Lakeland Ledger.
However, they weren’t child porn: Although federal law addresses such “composite or morphed images,” said Stelmack’s lawyer, Lawrence Walters, state law doesn’t—and a three-judge panel of the Second District Court of Appeal in Lakeland agreed, remanding the case for a directed verdict of acquittal.
Legislative history shows lawmakers discussed alternatives and intended to address situations in which children were exploited sexually, the panel noted in its opinion, further emphasizing that lawmakers intended not to criminalize simulated child sex.
Scribd provides a link to the opinion..
