The Manhattan DA's office dropped charges against a woman who posed nude at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in an unauthorized photo shoot. (Flickr user WallyG)By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The nude woman who posed among the Metropolitan Museum of Art statues in an unauthorized August photo shoot had the indecent exposure charges against her dropped Monday.
Kathleen Neill, 26, rolled naked on the floor at The Met for a photo shoot with photographer Zach Hyman, who specializes in pictures of nudes in public spaces, according to the New York Post.
Neill's lawyer, Tom Hilgardner, argued that the model's actions were not illegal because the law has a loophole that allows public nudity.
"My argument is, you can go stark, raving, completely nude in Times Square, or Rockefeller Center or the Metropolitan Museum of Art," Hillgardner said in an interview with the Post.
Neill faced charges of exposure, public lewdness and endangering the welfare of school kids who accidentally caught the shoot on a field trip.
The children had recently viewed the museum's nude statues so they were not in any danger, Hillgardner argued. He countered the lewdness charges by saying that the law only prevents topless sunbathing or handing out of materials — not posing.
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