SUMTER COUNTY, Fla.,None — A medical examiner testified on Wednesday in the case of a Sumter County couple on trial for the death of a toddler who was killed by a pet python that was kept in their home.
Both the state and the defense rested their cases Wednesday afternoon, and closing arguments are set to begin Thursday.
The two defendants, Jaren Hare and Charles Darnell chose not to testify on Wednesday, but a snake expert did. He was asked about the couple's 8 1/2 foot-long, female Burmese python. The snake expert said he would expect a Burmese python of its age to be almost twice the length and 140 pounds in size.
Two-year-old Shaianna Hare's heart was still pumping as a python coiled itself around her body while she laid in her crib unable to breathe, the medical examiner said.
"There were several clusters of puncture wounds and superficial linear lacerations that represented bites from the snake as the snake was trying to ingest her, basically," said Wendy Lavezzi, deputy medical examiner.
Jaren Hare and Darnell looked away in the courtroom on Wednesday as Lavezzi described the attack. Shaianna's body was discovered inside her home off CR-466 on the morning of July 1, 2009.
"She never expected that the snake would kill anyone, let alone her child," said Ismael Solis, defense attorney.
Jaren Hare's attorney said no one could approximate the pain his client has suffered. Jaren Hare was weeks from delivering another child when Shaianna was killed.
Jaren Hare and Darnell could face more than 30 years in prison, if they're convicted on charges of manslaughter, third-degree murder and neglect, but prosecutors said that's what happened when a pet python was housed in a certain tank.
State prosecutor Pete Magrino asked a snake farmer, an expert witness, to give his opinion of the enclosure the snake was kept in.
"That particular item, in the condition that it's in, with what it had on top of it, is totally impossibly incapable of housing a Burmese python," said Eugene Bessette.
Shaianna Hare's father was in the courtroom on Wednesday. Closing arguments are set to begin at 8:30am on Thursday.
Previous Stories: July 13, 2011: Expert: Python Malnourished In Toddler Death Case July 12, 2011: Testimony Begins In Case Of Python Killing Toddler July 12, 2011: Jury Selection Ends In Child Killed By Snake Case July 11, 2011: Jury Selection Begins In Case Of Girl Killed By Python
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