Danny Parker, a Sunday school teacher from Lakeland, Florida, was arrested and eventually convicted on child porn charges in 2009 after he was found to have cut out the faces of children from photos he'd taken and then pasted them on the bodies of explicit photos of adults. Now, a Florida appeals court has overturned the conviction and says that under Florida law he was not technically in possession of child porn.
Parker, 41, had volunteered at the Lakeland Acres Baptist Church and at a youth camp at Lake Wales Care Center. He took pictures of young girls at the church and camp and then went home and cut out their faces and placed them on pornographic images.
He was sentenced to five years, but according to The Lakeland Ledger, his conviction has now been overturned by the Second District Court of Appeal.
The court ruled that while Parker's behavior was reprehensible, his actions don't add up to trafficking in child porn.
"The crudely constructed depictions, fortunately, leave no doubt that no child engaged in the sexual conduct," reads the court's opinion.
"Accordingly, we cannot conclude that Mr. Parker possessed child pornography. The legislature's words constrain us."
Parker will now likely walk free. He said he was inspired by news that a Lakeland-area elementary school principal was arrested for similar actions. He too was convicted on child porn charges, but that conviction was overturned in December.
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