Pretrial hearings continued to May

Jaren Ashley Hare and Charles J. Darnell will return to court on May 12 for a pretrial hearing. Jaren Ashley Hare, free on $35,000 bail, showed up for the hearing Wednesday, March 10 in the Sumter County courthouse, She remained silent as officials discussed the status of the case. No estimated trial date on the charges was given. They are both charged with third-degree murder, manslaughter and child abuse. The murder count and the manslaughter count, which accuses the couple of "reckless disregard," each carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

According to arrest affidavits and the Sumter County Sheriff's Office, Jaren Hare owned the 8 and 1/2 foot reptile and the couple had been involved with snakes for years. Darnell told investigators that after it was found in the hallway either late June 30 or early July 1, he put the reptile inside a bag and placed it in a glass tank and tied a quilt over the ends.
He later awoke to find the snake missing and wrapped around the child's lifeless body, and he stabbed it.

The affidavit added the 2-by-8-foot aquarium did not have a lock or secure cover and there were no doors to any of the rooms in the home. Darnell allegedly told investigators that the snake had escaped from its aquarium between five and seven times.

The couple also allegedly had turned down offers of a better enclosure or place to hold the albino Burmese python.

Judge William Hallman III said he hopes to have both suspects and all lawyers present for the May 12 hearing, in an effort to push the case forward.

Here are two links to the information provided above: Link1 & Link2.

The Burmese Python tragedy in Florida

Well, to continue from my previous post, I have a few problems with the "story" of how a 2-year old girl was killed by a Burmese Python.

If you listen to the 9-1-1 call that was placed by Charles J. Darnell (the owner of the Burmese Python), he says that "Our "STUPID" snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby" (I would beg to differ as to which one is smarter, Mr. Darnell or the snake...but I digress). He continues to say that "We have a Burmese python, she's about 12 feet long, got out of the cage last night and strangled the baby to death". [The snake was later measured and determined to only be 8 1/2 feet]. Continuing, he says "I'm going to kill the bitch". It truly is a gut wrenching call on many levels.

So, here are my problems with the 9-1-1 call. Why did he instantly think the child is dead? If it was my child, I would be performing CPR until the paramedics arrived and if I didn't know CPR I would attempt SOMETHING or ask what to do! According to this report the 9-1-1 call came in a little before 10:00am on Wednesday, July 1st, after Mr. Darnell discovered the little girl dead. I don't think I can remember EVER sleeping in until 10:00am when my daughter was 2 years old. Also, according to this report there were two older children in the house as well. WOW, the mother, Mr. Darnell, and 3 kids all asleep until 10:00 in the morning in the middle of the week?!? A 2-year old and 2 other kids NOT waking up before 10:00am wanting to be fed, have a diaper changed, wanting to play, etc.?? That sure is a quiet house!

According to this report, the 8 1/2 foot Burmese Python weighed 15 to 20 pounds, yet Mr. Darnell was not able to remove the snake from around the girl and had to go and get a 6-inch knife AND a meat cleaver!?!? As you can tell from the pictures in my previous blog post, Mr. Darnell is a large man, and the python was quite small. I would think it would be relatively easy for Mr. Darnell to uncoil the snake from the little girl, especially if he had started at the tail and went "backwards". I just don't think that the Burmese python was so strong that Mr. Darnell couldn't remove it without going to the extreme measure of "stabbing" the snake. Now, I don't know about you, but I am not about to stab a knife or a MEAT CLEAVER anywhere near my daughter that's for sure, let alone stab at a snake that is so small that I might miss and hit the girl instead! You can tell from the picture of the python in my previous post that it only has two, maybe three cuts. So, are we supposed to believe that Mr. Darnell stabbed the python once or twice with the knife (or meat cleaver), the snake wouldn't let go, so he had to drop that tool and use another?? Then he had to stab it with a meat cleaver (or knife) all the while NOT STABBING or hitting the little girl??? You can see in the picture below that the cuts appear on the python near its head, where the snake is maybe 2 or 3 inches in diameter. Those are some pretty darn good stabs to be able to hit a snake but yet not injure (or be concerned you will injure) the little girl at the same time....

Then there is the problem of a warrant needing to be issued. According to this report, the authorities had to wait for a warrant to be issued before entering the home! If it was me, and my daughter was just killed by my pet, I would say come on in and remove the snake at once! At the very least, put the snake in a bag and hand it over to the authorities. Instead, they had to wait until 4:45pm to go in and remove the python. Maybe Mr. Darnell didn't want the authorities to discover a small amount of marijuana that they found. Since Mr. Darnell was arrested in May on numerous drug charges I guess police officers aren't his best friends either, even in a time of tragedy.

The same report says that the Department of Children and Families had investigated several complaints that involved the family over the past year. I'm not saying foul play was involved in this tragedy, I just hope that this case of a death of an innocent young life is fully investigated. I would hate to think that people would just jump to conclusions just because there is a snake in the house and things might "appear" to be an accident. It makes such a good story that a "huge terrifying snake" killed a little girl...I just find all the things that I have listed above about this story as a little "fishy"....

I hate the fact that Mr. Darnell's carelessness and stupidity is casting a bad light on the rest of the responsible boid owners that take the time and money to properly care for their animals. So far, Mr. Darnell faces a maximum fine of $500 and/or 60 days in jail for not having a permit for his Burmese python. Additionally, Mr. Darnell and/or the mother could face criminal charges for child neglect or endangerment. I really hope they throw the book at Mr. Darnell for his stupidity, and the mom should be charged for allowing this animal to be unsecured around her child (of course, she might have not known any better...). The preliminary results of the autopsy report, pending toxicology tests, have come back saying that the little girl died of asphyxia.

This tragedy is so sad on many different levels, and may that little girl rest in peace.