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

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

Lynn Powell, New Press, $25.95 (320p) ISBN 978-1-59558-551-6

Poet Powell (The Zones of Paradise) unravels the protracted legal battle over a mother's seemingly harmless photograph and the uproar it caused. In 1999, Cynthia Stewart and her partner, David Perrotta, lived with their eight-year-old daughter, Nora, in Oberlin, Ohio. Since Nora's birth, Cynthia had regularly photographed her, both clothed and unclothed. When someone at the lab developing her film found a photo of Nora in the tub, rinsing off with the shower nozzle, the police were alerted. Cynthia was arrested on suspicion of child pornography and eventually charged with two felonies by prosecutor Greg White, who was known for his hard-nosed approach. Powell, whose son was Nora's friend, spearheaded the town's effort to support Cynthia and David through the emotional—and financial—stresses of the legal fight, which soon included threats from Children Services to remove Nora from the home. Pinning down a definition for obscenity is notoriously tricky, and Powell is smart to leave all but the most basic points of the legal wrangling out of her account, which is the compelling story of a mother who stood by her principles and the community that shored her up.(Sept.)