Framing Innocence: A Mother's Photographs, a Prosecutor's Zeal, and a Small Town's Response

by Lynn Powell

The story of how innocent photographs taken by a mother of her child became the heart of a wrenching legal battle--an unforgettable book that "restores the truth of a family's life" ( Sally Mann, photographer ).

Ten years ago, amateur photographer and school bus driver Cynthia Stewart dropped off eleven rolls of film at a drugstore near her home in Ohio. The rolls contained photographs of her eight-year-old daughter Nora, including two of the child in the shower--photos that would cause the county prosecutor to arrest Cynthia, take her away in handcuffs, threaten to remove her daughter from her home, and charge her with crimes that carried the possibility of sixteen years in prison.

The disturbing case would ultimately attract national attention--including stories in USA Today and on NPR--and supporters including the famed photographer Sally Mann, Katha Pollitt, and the ACLU.

Written by poet Lynn Powell, a neighbor of Cynthia Stewart's, this riveting and beautifully told story plumbs the perfect storm of events and people that threatened a loving family in a small American town. Framing Innocence features a determined prosecutor; a fundamentalist Christian anti-porn crusader who is appointed as Cynthia's daughter's guardian; the local attorneys for whom the case would become a crucible; and the many neighbors--friends and strangers, Republican and Democrat-- who come together to fight for sanity and for justice for Cynthia and her family.

Genres: Nonfiction, Photography, Law, True Crime, Legal, Politics, Art

320 pages, Hardcover

First published August 10, 2010

Reviews

[Awirtz67yahoo.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. However, I must reveal that I am one of the defense attornies in this book. Lynn is a great writer who captured the very essence of this case. The first draft was way to long and this was just right. Lynn poured her sole into this book. Cynthia, David and Nora left an impression in my life forever. The town of Oberlin and its citizens is unique, but not so much that it cannot happen to anyone of you that read this book. Remember that your constitutional rights were created to protect each of you from wrongful prosecution.

[Koren · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mother is a photographer and takes pictures of her 8 year old daughter in the nude. She has taken thousands of pictures of her daughter but two caught the eye of someone working in the lab when the pictures were printed and that person reported them to the police, which set off a long chain of events that included the mother's arrest, put on leave from her job and thousands of dollars spent on legal defense. This happened in the late 90's, before most people had digital cameras. I was glad the mother stuck to her guns and didnt give in when she knew she was innocent. At times the story bogged down a bit but mostly it was pretty interesting and an eye-opener about how sometimes parents can be considered guilty until proven innocent. This mother was lucky that she had a lot of community support along the way. Others probably weren't as lucky.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading an article about Cynthia Stewart quite some time ago. Maybe it was when I first was into Sally Mann.. but it was in a local newspaper. Long after the fact of all the trials and tribulations. What brought this book to mine was reading Feast Your Eyes by Myla Goldberg and the similarities between Stewart, Mann, and so many others. The fact that she was local, as is also the author of this book on her, intrigued me into reading a more in depth story of her life, or at least this portion of it.

[Bitchin' Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Attended a lecture of Powell's discussing the danger of people misconstruing innocent actions for perversion. It is terrifying the situation she was rung through--it makes me scared to have children and be scrutinized by other parents, but the government!

A quick but meaningful read, I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in what is taboo in modern society.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down. A beautifully written, and captivating account of a hippie/artistic mother in Ohio who was an avid, amateur photographer chronicling her daughter's life in pictures. When she dropped off a roll of film at the local Drug Mart, as she had for years, she had no idea that 2 of the pictures of her 8-year old daughter in the shower would cause the photo-processing lab to call the police. The county prosecutor then filed criminal charges against her for pornography, without having the Children's Service Agency first conduct an investigation. This family was put through hell and back both financially and emotionally. The daughter suffered tremendously as she wondered whether or not she was going to be taken away from her parents. I found it terrifying as a parent to read how a simple act of love could be misconstrued and used as grounds for the government to intervene in one's family.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought-provoking and engrossing, this book will make you think about many issues affecting our world today. A wonderful look at how one simple act, photographing your own child, can be viewed in so many disparate ways.

[Candy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting non fiction of questionable censorship of family photographs. Compelling. Recommend.

[Emily Petroff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this book by a bit of coincidence in that it was written by the wife of a fellow pulsar astronomer. Knowing my reading habits, Dan gave me this book to read at some point in the future. I opened it on the train ride home and since then had a hard time putting it down. This book is the true story of a woman in a college town who was arrested and taken to court over nude photos of her daughter the county prosecutor deemed obscene. It raises a lot of questions that are super relevant these days: what is public? what is private? if something is private does it need to be publicly appropriate? Overall a very captivating read that I would highly recommend!

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent non fiction story of a mother charged with pornography after she took naked pictures of her daughter in the shower. A scary example of how things can go horribly wrong as she chronicled her daughter's life by taking thousands of photos. The case becomes very disturbing as an over zealous prosecutor refuses to back down from the charges. The community of people who helped the family through, including the author, are the real reason this case was made so public . Great read, although some of it, especially the legal wrangling, is a bit long winded.

[E. Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thankfully, I get the sense that the anti-naked-child witch hunt described in this book is finally starting to pass, but it's very disturbing to read, especially in years past, that police and prosecutors have become so out-of-control of protecting children that they've essentially turned innocent until proven guilty into guilty until proven innocent. The legal proceedings in this book were quite wordy and long-winded, but otherwise very well written.

[Leslie Zampetti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Framing Innocence is a gripping and quite frightening examination of the persecution - there really is no other word for it - of Cynthia Stewart by Lorain County for allegedly taking pornographic photos of her young daughter. While the photos themselves are not shown - due to their eventual destruction as part of a settlement - the descriptions of the photos and many diverse reactions to them demonstrate that the prosecution was at best, misjudged, and at worst, a creepy effort to regulate familial attitudes toward nudity and child-rearing.

Powell was involved in Cynthia's defense from the beginning, and if readers find Cynthia herself rather too naive, Powell herself appears as a believable and reliable narrator. Fortunately, all turns out as well as could be hoped, given the extreme invasion of the family's privacy and intrusion into their lives. (During the prosecution and investigation - yes, in that order - even Ms. Stewart's accusers stated that no sign of actual intent to produce pornography nor any actual signs of abuse exist.)

A poet by preference, Powell shows herself to be a fine nonfiction writer as well. For book groups looking for a nonfiction read, this would be a good choice, with plenty of room for both stylistic and philosophical discussions.

[Jeri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is scary...Ten years ago, amateur photographer and school bus driver Cynthia Stewart dropped off eleven rolls of film at a drugstore near her home in Ohio. The rolls contained innocent photographs of her eight-year-old daughter Nora, including two of the child in the shower rinsing herself....The photos caused the county prosecutor to arrest Cynthia, take her away in handcuffs, threaten to remove her daughter from her home, and charge her with crimes that carried the possibility of sixteen years in prison.
The disturbing case would ultimately attract national attention including stories in USA Today and on NPR and supporters including the famed photographer Sally Mann, Katha Pollitt, and the ACLU.
It's a touching real life drama of how being wrongly accused can destroy your life but also of how a community and the country came to this family's aid.
Cynthia finally won her battle - but at what cost? Certainly changed my thinking about dropping any film at the local drugstore -- thank doG for digital.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read. Mother drops off film at drugstore for development with photos of nude child in bathtub and is accused of child pornography. Nightmare ensues. The book was very well written-- I did think it was a stronger narrative before the writer becomes a participant in the story (halfway through?), although she was a participant and that needed to be acknowledged. I lost patience with the mother relatively early on. At times she was overwrought and as the prosecution was seeking a way out of all the bad publicity, she was unwilling to compromise or listen to the advice of her lawyers, family, friends, supporters who had raised money for her defense. The prosecution was wrong, but she was traversing the legal system not making a speech. The kid, I loved. She was smart, spunky and more mature than her mother.

It was a good picture of the crazy puritanism that still grips this country and of a legal system incapable of evaluating a situation without turning it into a black and white war.

[Fez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I searched an engine for photography books and this came up. I requested it from my local library not aware that it was a true story or that it would have the affect on me that it has. It is the story of Cynthia Stewart, hippy mother of 8 year old Nora. The clerk at the drugstore where she had numerous photos developed, believed there were pornographic images and reported it to the police. And so begins Cynthias battle to prove her innocence.
I can relate to Cynthia in that I take hundreds of photos of my own kids so as to document their lives, so they look back as adults and remember all the little things. To have any one of those images construed into something sinister would be a heartbreaking and torturous thing, and not something I had ever previously considered could happen. The sense of community is heartwarming and one would hope if they were ever in trouble they had people behind them like Cynthia did.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well there's that.

I didn't finish this book. I *couldn't* finish this book.

As a mother of an 8 and 6 year old, I'm in the camp of this is not ok! I'm no prude, but I also don't think as a mother I should be (or would want to be) photographing my child naked at this age. Throw in the shower head imagine and it got weird. But that's not why I didn't finish this book. I was disturbed by the description of the pictures, yes....but there was way too much mumbo jumbo that didn't need to be in there. I didn't need to know they were connected by their mothers fathers brother sisters cousins aunts best friend and they'd write a letter. All the legal chatter and useless information is what made me stop reading. It got boring! A subject matter like this shouldn't get boring. It was annoying me and I realized that hey just googling what happened would be much quicker and less painful.
With that said, I put the book down and I'm off to google.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Describes an outrageous abuse of power and undermining of civil liberties by partisan ideologues in a county prosecutors' office in 1999-2000, while real cases of abuse and neglect went un-investigated by Children's Services. The author's own participation in the community-response in defense of the accused-family (at a rally: "even those of us made squeamish by group chanting joined in"). "What's the point of a prosecution like this?" [asked a Lorain County attorney] "To teach her a lesson? If White [the prosecutor] wanted to teach Cynthia Stewart a lesson, he could have called her and her lawyer into his office, described the world of child porn, explained to her how pictures could have been stolen from the photo lab and put online, frightened her with prosecution if this ever happened again, then stressed 'We're not just whistlin' Dixie here, honey, This is the REAL world.' That would have cured Cynthia of her naivete FAST." (p187)

[Evanston Public Library]

The photo on the cover tells much of the story. To me it looks like a sweet picture of a young girl in a meadow. But to others, with a different squint of imagination, it might appear more suggestive than that.

Eleven years ago, Cynthia Stewart dropped off several rolls of film at a drugstore in Ohio. Most of the pictures were of her eight-year-old daughter, Nora. In several pictures Nora was naked. Someone at the photo lab suspected child abuse and alerted the police. Prior to any investigation, Stewart was charged with crimes carrying the possibility of sixteen years in prison.

Ultimately the case never went to trial: a storm of publicity, combined with Stewart's reluctant approval of the destruction of two photos, persuaded the zealous prosecutor to drop charges. (Because the photos were destroyed we don't get to see and judge them for ourselves.)

Jeff B.

[Nicole Palumbo Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

A free-spirited mother takes naked pictures of her 8 year old daughter in the bathtub. Is she a child pornographer? It's hard to imagine this well-meaning but kooky mother as having salacious intentions, but I would certainly never photograph a child that old without clothes. The descriptions of the photos in question made me very uncomfortable. The author is a friend of the accused mother, and she clearly believes in the innocence of the photos. This does not keep her from very thorough research and reporting. For most of the book, I forgot that Powell was also a character in this story, and it was jarring when she inserted herself into the narrative. It took me out of what was otherwise a fascinating and thought provoking story.

[Sarah Deacon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing and disturbing true story of how an amateur photographer and her family suffer during a legal case about a photo taken of her 8 year old daughter in the bathtub. The case creates many questions: Does a parent or the state really know what is best for a child? When is a photo innocent and when is it child porn? What makes a photo dangerous... the situation in which it was taken or the uses to which it might be put? Who should decide what a "good parent" does or doesn't do? Reading this makes me want to re-visit the work of photographer Sally Mann and I plan to watch a documentary film soon with her opinions on these issues.

[Marisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book!

Noticed this at the library, and realized that it was a case that hit very close to home for me. Oberlin, where this tragedy happened, is only about 20 miles from where I grew up, and this case was covered extensively in the papers. My parents were absolutely horrified, and I was too! My parents have lots of photos of us naked as kids. Who doesn't? This could have happened to anyone.

I knew I had to read it.

It is a great story of community, family, morality, and the politics of law. Well, the story itself isn't great - I wish this had never happened - but a great read.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rocketed through this book. Excellent story, well written, feels like it's unfolding in real time. The writer lived next door to the woman arrested for photographing her 8 year old nude in the bathtub. It felt so very pertinent to the child rearing issues in my own life as a lesbian and how near persecution can be -- yet, how powerful and prophylactic a strong community can be. Cynthia had spent her life caring for her neighbors and community building in Oberlin OH. When she became the object of a narrow-minded and power-hungry prosecutor, her community rose up and organized an effective resistance. A wonderful David & Goliath tale.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book from a different perspective from other readers. I am a small town prosecutor, albeit in Canada, so in an apolitical prosecution system.

I was so interested to read " Attorney Wirtz'" views in the comments section of Goodreads. My experience as defence counsel in that the only thing worse than a "principled" client is an innocent one. And this woman was clearly both. So I spent a lot of my time sympathizing with her lawyer.

My summary: interesting case, some interesting characters, good efforts to explicate the law and procedure. Not spellbinding, but well worth reading.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend recommended this book to me (and then gave me her copy) and I'm so glad she did. What a good book about how differences of opinion can get out of hand.

Simply put, a mother's snapshots of her naked daughter in the tub are flagged by a photo developer (this occurred in the time of film cameras) as pornography. It takes place in Oberlin, a very liberal Ohio town with a not-so-liberal county prosecutor.

The book is generally well-written, but does get a little slow going about two-thirds through.

Overall, however, an excellent read.

[Ruth Conrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book, telling the story of Cynthia Stewart of Oberlin. The title sums up the ordeal Cynthia undergoes after she takes several nude photos of her eight-year old daughter. The innocent photos cause Cynthia's arrest and framing by the Lorain County legal system and Children's Services. This book is thought-provoking and suspenseful, and these events really happened. Fortunately for Cynthia, she had a dedicated and skillful attorney and a supportive community.

[Larry Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, this is new to me, but I'd put this as a must read for anyone living in the U.S. today...It gives a warning about protecting our rights to privacy and our civil rights. It's also a tribute the character of one small town in Ohio to defend these rights. Lynn Powell the author will be on our campus March 2 for two talks...at noon and 7 pm. Free and open to the public...BGSU Firelands College in Huron, Ohio...

[Aspen Junge · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real page-turner, this is the story of a woman dedicated to documenting her daughter's life through photographs-- including, unfortunately, some snapshots of her eight-year-old in the shower. When the photo lab turned the film into the prosecutor, things get increasingly difficult for the family. Ultimately insisting on her exoneration, the family survives to tell the tale with the help of their community.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

- My old boss LOVED this book and made it sound amazing, but I just thought it was fair. I found it repetitive, as the author kept describing the photos in question. I also found the court/attorney talk boring.
+ The accusations were shocking and it makes you realize that you have to be careful when getting photos developed, no matter how innocent you think the photos may be.
+ It was definitely something different and I never even heard of the book before! I like true stories :)

[Rachel Jaffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable story about a mother who was prosecuted for having taken of her daughter that involved nudity. The author did a good job of describing a lot of the people involved in the case -- less so the prosecutors, who did not seem to have cooperated with the writing, but she still gave it a good shot under the circumstances. I didn't agree with all of the mother's choices, but I appreciated that the author was able to make me sympathize with her conviction.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first book that I read on my Nook Color. I'm not sure if that biased the experience, but I really enjoyed the book. At times the author was long winded, the scenarios were repetative, and the protagonist frustrating, but overall, this book was a shocking story that still leaves me wondering how I feel about the issue.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really interesting story that's written beautifully. It's hard to know how I would feel about this book if I hadn't gone to Oberlin, because one of the best parts of reading it was seeing what an interesting and great community Oberlin can be.