John Stelmack

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Charge:	Pornography (including making and distributing)
Sentence:	5 years and 10 years of sex offender registration
Years Imprisoned:	1.43
Year Crime:	2007
Year Convicted:	2009
Year Cleared:	2010
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Florida
County or Region of Crime:	Polk
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"John Stelmack was wrongly convicted on July 10, 2009, of possessing child pornography. Stelmack was a Lakeland, Florida elemementary school principal, and he was arrested in December 2007 after in his briefcase the images of the heads of children were found cut-and-pasted on the body of an adult woman. The briefcase was in a closet in his office at Scott Lake Elementary School. John Stelmack was sentenced to five years in prison and 10 years registration as a sex offender. On December 3, 2010, a three-judge panel of the Second District Court of Appeal overturned Stelmack's conviction and ordered his acquittal. The judges ruled the photographs Stelmack had were not child pornography because the nude bodies shown were those of an adult. Photos of the faces of children, some of them Scott Lake students, had been placed on those bodies, but none of the photos actually showed children nude. The judges ruling states in part, 'Unseemly as the images in this case may be, their possession is not (outlawed in Florida) because the only sexual conduct in the images is that of an adult.' The Court ordered that a judgement of acquittal be entered for Stelmack."
Conviction Caused By:	Trial judge relied on an erroneous interpretation of Florida's child pornography law.
Innocence Proved By:	"On December 3, 2010, a three-judge panel of the Second District Court of Appeal overturned Stelmack's conviction and ordered his acquittal."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"John Stelmack v. Florida, No., 2D09-3354 (Second District Court of Appeal, 12-3-2010)"
Information Location 1:	"http://www.2dca.org/opinions/Opinion_Pages/Opinion_Page_2010/December/December%2003,%202010/2D09-3354.pdf"
Information Source 2:	"Judges say bizarre cut-and-paste porn not illegal, Orlando Sentinel, December 3, 2010"
Information Location 2:	http://www.theledger.com/article/20101203/news/101209901
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John Stelmack

Charge:

Pornography (including making and distributing)

Sentence:

5 years and 10 years of sex offender registration

Years Imprisoned:

1.43

Year Crime:

2007

Year Convicted:

2009

Year Cleared:

2010

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Florida

County or Region of Crime:

Polk

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Trial judge relied on an erroneous interpretation of Florida's child pornography law.

Innocence Proved By:

"On December 3, 2010, a three-judge panel of the Second District Court of Appeal overturned Stelmack's conviction and ordered his acquittal."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"John Stelmack v. Florida, No., 2D09-3354 (Second District Court of Appeal, 12-3-2010)"

Information Location 1:

"http://www.2dca.org/opinions/Opinion_Pages/Opinion_Page_2010/December/December%2003,%202010/2D09-3354.pdf"

Information Source 2:

"Judges say bizarre cut-and-paste porn not illegal, Orlando Sentinel, December 3, 2010"

Information Location 2:

http://www.theledger.com/article/20101203/news/101209901

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Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: