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Mother's "Child-Porn" Photo Case Dismissed after Counseling
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ELYRIA, Ohio (AP) -- Charges were dismissed as
promised Monday in the case of a mother who took pictures of her 8-year-old
daughter in the shower that prosecutors claimed were lewd.
Cynthia Stewart, 48, of Oberlin, had avoided trial by agreeing to undergo
counseling for six months and to give up the pictures to be destroyed. She had
faced as many as 16 years in prison if convicted of illegal use of a child in
nudity-oriented material and pandering sexually oriented material.
The pictures, taken in the summer of 1999, showed her daughter rinsing off her
genital area with a shower spray. Stewart, who has taken thousands of snapshots
of her daughter, had acknowledged that two pictures could be interpreted as
sexually oriented. But she said they were not intended to be and were never
meant for use outside the family.
The free speech case attracted attention from around the country and criticism
from the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. People donated more than
$40,000 for Stewart's defense.
Lorain County Prosecutor Gregory White said he would pursue any similar case in
the same way. ``I don't think she intended to create the pictures she did,''
White said. ``She was very naive about the circumstances that exist in the
world'' in terms of Internet pornography, White said. ``I do what I think is
right. I do not react to criticism.''
Stewart had to complete counseling on adolescent sexuality and show that she
understands what constitutes sexually oriented material.
Stewart was not required to be at Monday's hearing when Common Pleas Judge
Edward Zaleski dismissed the charges and could not be reached to comment on the
action. A telephone message was left at her home.
Her lawyer, Amy Wirtz, said Stewart agreed to have the photos destroyed but
wanted people to know that ``she finds the destruction of her pictures
reprehensible and unnecessary.'' Destroying the pictures ``came with the
package, and she understands that she can't back out of the deal she entered
into,'' Wirtz said.
Stewart was charged after a Mansfield photography lab alerted police to the
pictures. Wirtz said Stewart wants photo labs to establish a clear policy ``so
that an innocent person would not be put through this torture. She believes
there should be some screening process to protect children, but it needs to be
more refined.''