Well, maybe you're right. It's not at all negligent to keep a 15-foot long boa constrictor predatory snake that preys on small animals around a sleeping infant.
Why, just look at how well they get along together. Like biscuits and gravy!
Posted on 07/11/2011 10:36:39 AM PDT by george76
Charles "Jason" Darnell, 33, and Jaren Ashley Hare, 21, face third-degree murder and manslaughter charges stemming from the 2009 death of their daughter...Prosecutors will allege that "Gypsy," a 260 centimeter albino Burmese python, escaped from its glass tank, slithered down the hall and attacked the child in her crib.
Darnell told detectives he found the snake in the hallway a day before the attack and had placed it back inside its tank and put a quilt on top of it. He also admitted that the snake had gotten out of the tank - which did not have a lock on it - at least five times prior to the incident.
Documents released in January and cited by the Orlando Sentinel claim that the snake had not been fed for a month when the child was attacked.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.com.au ...
No, I haven't. This couple lost their child in a tragic accident, and the State piling on seems absurd to me.
This couple has suffered severely already. Imagine the guilt they feel. I don't see threatening them with prison time as serving the needs of justice.
Accidents happen. This was an accident, not a crime.
Even stipulating that the parents were negligent, I just don't see what charging them would accomplish. They have already been punished.
That's the equivalent of saying I'm 660 months old.
Murdering children is legal in the United States..
Many that have a problem with culling dogs in the pound have no problem with murder of children..
Liberalism is a mental disease.. some have it.. others are carriers..
Even some republicans are “progressives”... i.e. Romney, Huntsman, Bush.. O’Reilly, Huckabee.. etc..
or a loaded hand gun
There's nothing intrinsically wrong with owning a snake, a pit bull, or a handgun.
And unloaded handguns tend to be pretty useless for self-defense...
I calculated 260cm as a 8 ft 6 inches Burmese python. Burmese python can reach up to 19ft long with 12 ft being the average length.
A loaded handgun still needs the trigger pulled. A snake, pit bull, or whatever has it's own my mind, needs, desires. They are different.
Having "free run of the house" is inconsistent with the snake having escaped from its cage several times. Some animals are just escape artists. The owner made at least some attempt to keep the snake in its cage. Granted, they were negligent, but the loss of a child is punishment enough, in my humble opinion, and criminal charges are just rubbing salt in the wound.
I'd rather have the state reserve the prison space for an actual criminal, not just a poor parent. I just don't believe in imprisoning people (or threatening to) for tragic accidents such as this.
If any intent could be demonstrated, then it becomes premeditated murder, but there doesn't appear to be any evidence of that.
FI - Don’t you know that they teach this stuff in journalism school? “Feet and inches are soooooo 20th century”.
Putting a blanket over the cage is NOT what I would consider as an attempt to fix the problem.
If the snake is not properly secured, and has previously proven its ability to escape several times, and the owners have not taken steps to prevent that, then for all practical purposes, the snake DOES have "free run of the house" since it is virtually free to come and go at will.
I have had snakes escape before. Being escape artists is what they are good at. That is why they are properly kept in cages that they cannot escape from. It's not that hard to secure snake cage, and this guy didn't even make the effort.
If this had been the first time, I would have possibly agreed with you. But after several times? Sorry. This guy is criminally negligent in my book, and if I were on the jury, I would vote to convict.
I dunno...seems to me there’s no real excuse for keeping in the house both a small child and an animal with a reptilian brain that says, “Hey, lunch!” when it sees said child. Not without a lock on the container. Sorry.
Colonel, USAFR
The kid drowned because the dad was having a sexual relationship with the snake.:)
“Hysteria is unbecoming.”
No Hysteria ,Now if I was the father of that child and My ex’s boyfriend did this ,I would get very pissed!Very!
There is Nothing ‘sick’ about keeping these animals, despite your feelings.
There is everything wrong about how this one was kept. Sadly, as with anything, there are risks, and this person did not do the bare minimum; in this case - keep the animal in an escape proof enclosure.
Beyond that, calling others ‘sick’ is just bit, well, hysterical.
Something along the line of 8+ feet.
Agreed, very negligent, especially in view of it being a large constrictor.
“There is Nothing ‘sick’ about keeping these animals, despite your feelings.
There is everything wrong about how this one was kept. Sadly, as with anything, there are risks, and this person did not do the bare minimum; in this case - keep the animal in an escape proof enclosure.
Beyond that, calling others ‘sick’ is just bit, well, hysterical.”
Yeah Right-O LOL LOL So You see nothing wrong with keeping a very dangerous animal around Infants?? How about a Crocodile as well,YOU my friend are hysterically brain damaged!
Well, maybe you're right. It's not at all negligent to keep a 15-foot long boa constrictor predatory snake that preys on small animals around a sleeping infant.
Why, just look at how well they get along together. Like biscuits and gravy!
This is akin to leaving a baby to die in a hot car. It is called responsibility and parents are legally obligated to be responsible where the well being of their offspring is concerned.
Deliberately giving a python unmonitored access to an infant/toddler, giving a large dog unmonitored access to an infant/toddler, giving a great white shark unmonitored access to an infant/toddler, giving a mountain lion unmonitored access, a babboon, a grizzly bear. . .
All manslaughter at a minimum in my opinion. Any animal known to aggressively kill and eat people if given the opportunity CAN NOT be given unmonitored access to children.
A loaded gun in the infant’s room would be safer. The gun has no killer instinct and is merely a tool.
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