SUMTER COUNTY, Fla.,None — Testimony started Tuesday afternoon in the trial of a Sumter County couple who is charged with manslaughter, third-degree murder and neglect, in the death of a toddler. The toddler was strangled by an albino Burmese python that was kept inside the couple's home.
PYTHON REMOVED: See Images | Raw Video RAW AUDIO: Emotional 911 Call
Jurors saw the crib where 2-year-old Shaianna Hare was sleeping and where the python named Gypsy slithered into her bed. They also saw the enclosure that Gypsy escaped from.
The python was secured in a laundry bag inside the enclosure with a quilt on top, which was fastened in place with safety pins.
"Although that albino Burmese python is the instrument of death, those two defendants are responsible for the death of Shaianna Hare," said prosecutor Pete Magrino during his opening statement.
Magrino pointed a finger directly at co-defendants Charles Darnell and Jaren Hare for the July 1, 2009, suffocation death of Shaianna. The 8 1/2-foot snake escaped its enclosure inside the toddler's Oxford home off County Road 466 and slithered into the baby's crib.
An undercover Florida Fish and Wildlife officer testified that the python's terrarium was not properly secured. It was one of two large snakes that were in Jaren Hare's possession for years before she and her daughter moved in with Darnell.
Licenses and locks weren't required when the snakes were bought, but they were at the time of Shaianna's death. Defense attorneys told jurors that neither Hare nor her boyfriend saw the snake as a threat.
"The snake was always out, ladies and gentlemen. The snake was out. It was a pet like having a pit bull in the house. And all of a sudden the pit bull goes crazy," said defense attorney Ismael Solis.
Shaianna's grandparents did express concern.
"Did you ever offer to make a locking lid for what the python was kept in when your daughter was living over in Oxford?" Magrino asked her grandfather, William Hare.
"Yes sir," William Hare replied.
Hare was still waiting for the measurements at the time of his granddaughter's death. Jaren Hare and Darnell face more than three decades behind bars if they're convicted on the most serious charges in the case.
Sumter County investigators said the non-permitted python escaped its enclosure the evening before Shaianna's death. They also said that the snake was malnourished.
The Department of Children and Families (DCF) closed an investigation into the couple a month before Shaianna's death. DCF was called about drug abuse allegations, and the snake was in the home at the time.
The couple rejected a plea offer that would have avoided a trial.
Previous Stories: 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 August 24, 2009: Couple Charged In Death Of Toddler By Python July 1, 2009: Burmese Python Kills Young Girl In Sumter County
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