Jaren Hare found her daughter Shaianna dead in her cot in 2009 with the 8 feet 6 inch long Burmese python Gypsy wrapped around her neck. An autopsy revealed the snake hadn’t been fed in a MONTH and was trying to eat the toddler!
Jaren, 21, was found guilty on Thursday of third degree murder and is now facing up to 35 years in prison. Is that a fair sentence?
A Florida jury took just two hours to convict Jaren Hare and her boyfriend Charles Darnell, 34, who was found guilty of manslaughter and child neglect.
Jaren’s attorney insisted, ‘That event will shadow her for the rest of her life. There’s not a scintilla of evidence that Jaren Ashley Hare was ever a bad mother.
“We’re talking about Gypsy, a pet that turned killer. Did she look at this and say ‘Gee, is this potentially a killer animal that’s going to kill us all?’ No, that was not her mindset.”
But the prosecution insisted the couple were at fault for leaving their child exposed to a wild, killer, animal, especially one that hadn’t been fed in a month! A prosecutor told the court, “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist. If that kind of snake will take down an alligator, it will eat something else – even a small two-year-old girl.”
Hare and Darnell wept when the verdict was read out on July 14. They will be sentenced at a later date.
Is this a fair verdict, HollyMoms? What would be an appropriate sentence?
– Ian Garland
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Tiffinyz
Posted at 11:14 PM on January 10, 2012
I’m coming late to this discussion, I just stumbled across this story. But I felt compelled to make a few comments. I do believe the punishment is much to harsh. There should definitely be consequences but this woman did not intentionally harm her child. That being said I was very suprised that people that claim to have large snakes did not mention the real issue. It is not at all unusual to not feed large snakes for several months. It is not cruel or starving them. Even Zoos dont feed thier large snakes every month. The real issue is that pythons are incredibly strong and are escape artists. This snake was obviously not properly secured. And for that reason I do belive that some negligence did occur.