Death From Python Case Set for Jury Selection

A story by Stephen Hudak, at the Orlando Sentinel (Follow the link to find the complete story) is reporting that the court case against Charles "Jason" Darnell, 34, and Jaren Hare, 21 is ready to start jury selection on Monday July 11. The couple is accused of failing to keep the 8-foot-6-inch albino Burmese python from slithering out of a terrarium in July 2009 and into bed with the toddler, Shaianna Hare. The python constricted the 2-year-old in her crib. Darnell and Hare will stand trial for manslaughter and child neglect. The couple will be tried together and could receive a sentence of 35 years in prison if convicted of all charges.

Animal rights groups and animal-law experts across the U.S. will be monitoring the criminal case, thought to be the first instance of a nonvenomous constrictor killing a child in Florida, where the thriving but invasive "reptile of concern" spurred state-sponsored python hunts in the Everglades in 2009.

According to investigative documents reviewed by the Sentinel, the yellowish constrictor, bought at a flea market for $200, hadn't eaten in a month and was kept in a glass terrarium with a quilt for a lid. The snake weighed in at a sickly 13.5 pounds after the attack.

Since 1980, the Humane Society of the United States, which opposes ownership of constrictor snakes, has documented more than 200 incidents of snake attacks, escapes, abandonments and cruelty cases in 43 states. The reptiles have been linked to the deaths of 16 people in the U.S., including seven children. A similar trial resulted in a misdemeanor conviction for a father in 2002. In that case, a Pennsylvania judge decided that snake keeper was guilty of misdemeanor child endangerment but not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment in the death of his 8-year-old daughter. The girl was constricted by the father's 11-foot-long pet python.


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