Why a teacher accused of sexual misconduct is smiling in her mugshot

The Texas teacher made national headlines when she was arrested on Monday because of her wide smile in her mugshot.

And though she was derided on social media for her grin, her lawyer, Jason Nassour, is coming at it from another angle: She’s smiling because she’s innocent, he told local TV station NBC 5.

“This isn’t a guilty person sitting there like they just got caught,” Nassour said. “When everything’s fleshed out it won't be as it appears.”

Sarah Madden Fowlkes, 27, is accused of engaging in sexual conduct with a 17-year-old student, according to KXAN. The anatomy teacher at Lockhart High School engaged in “sexual content with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of the student,” according to the police. She turned herself in on Monday.

“Seventeen years old is obviously older, but at the same time it doesn’t make anything right,” Detective Jesse Bell told KXAN.

But Nassour, her lawyer, argues police have no evidence.

“You’ve got a young lady who was arrested on the statement of a 17-year-old kid with no corroborating evidence,” he told NBC 5.

Fowlkes, who is married, was suspended from her teaching job after her arrest Monday and will not be returning, according to school district officials. She posted bond and was out of jail later that same day.

This story was originally published March 23, 2017 at 4:43 AM with the headline "Why a teacher accused of sexual misconduct is smiling in her mugshot."