SHAIUNNA HARE - 2 yo -(2009) Oxford FL

Authorities on Monday afternoon arrested the mother of a 2-year-old
Sumter County girl who was strangled to death in July by a 9-foot
Burmese python, charging her and her boyfriend with third-degree
murder, manslaughter of a child and felony child neglect.Contrary
to prior reports, the arrest affidavits state the snake was owned by
the girl's mother, 19-year-old Jaren Hare, not her live-in boyfriend,
Charles Darnell.

Darnell awoke July 1 to find the pet missing. He
found it in Shaiunna Hare's room, on top of her. Darnell, who is not
Shaiunna's father, freed the girl by stabbing the snake with a 6-inch
knife and a meat cleaver.Injured, the snake released the child
and slithered away inside the home. In a call to 911 at about 9:40 a.m.
July 1, an unidentified man sobs as he tells the operator what happened."The baby's dead," he says. "Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby."A medical examiner's report concluded Shaiunna Hare died of asphyxiation.At
the time of Monday's arrest, Darnell was in custody on a drug charge.
At 5 p.m., the Sumter County Sheriff's Office was in the process of
arresting Jaren Hare, a spokesman said.Interviews with family
members and friends revealed that the snake was not kept in a secure
enclosure, as mandated, and repeatedly escaped prior to the girl's
death, authorities said. Friends of the family even offered to keep the
snake locked in a cage, but the mother and boyfriend declined."It's
just a tragic set of circumstances that due to the reckless conduct on
behalf of adults, a small child lost her life," said Assistant State
Attorney Peter Magrino, a homicide prosecutor.

This is how 2-year-old Shaiunna Hare died: The little girl was
slowly crushed to death by an 8 ½-foot albino Burmese python that crept
into her crib, coiled around the child and bit her again and again as
it squeezed the life out of her. This is who authorities now blame for Shaiunna's death: her own mother.
Jaren Hare, who is pregnant, and her live-in boyfriend, Charles
Darnell, were arrested Monday on charges of third-degree murder,
manslaughter and child abuse.

The 5th Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office filed the
charges Monday after a two-month investigation revealed that the Sumter
County couple could have prevented Shaiunna's death any number of ways.
Interviews with family members and friends revealed that the
snake was not kept in a secure enclosure, as mandated by law, and
escaped repeatedly even before the girl's death on July 1, authorities
said. Friends of the family even had offered to keep the snake
locked in a cage, authorities said, but the mother and boyfriend
declined their help. "It's just a tragic set of circumstances that due to the
reckless conduct on behalf of adults, a small child lost her life,"
said Assistant State Attorney Peter Magrino, who prosecutes homicides
in Citrus, Hernando and Sumter counties. After the girl's death, the snake was described as a family
pet. Previous reports said Darnell, who is not Shaiunna's father, was
the owner. But now authorities say the snake actually belonged to Hare.
• • •
The morning Shaiunna died, the boyfriend awoke to find the pet snake missing from its enclosure.
It was not the first time. Just hours before, Darnell had found
the snake loose in the living room, he later told investigators. He said he put the snake in a sack, covered the terrarium with a quilt and tied it down with string.
When Darnell awoke again, the python was again missing.
This time, authorities said, he found it in Shaiunna's room, wrapped around the child.
Darnell stabbed the snake with a knife and meat cleaver. It let go of Shaiunna and slithered away.
"The baby's dead," a sobbing Darnell told a 911 operator. "Our
stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the
baby." The girl had bites to her head, torso and upper shoulder.
Five men entered the house to get the snake. It was still alive
and has been kept alive as evidence. Authorities also removed a 6-foot
red-tail boa constrictor named Dixie. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said it
may be the first child in the state killed by a nonvenomous
constrictor. Darnell lost a child to meningitis five years ago, according
to the Sumter County Sheriff's Office, and is the father of the child
Hare is carrying. "It's not guilt," Darnell told the Orlando Sentinel about how he felt after Shaiunna's death. "It's remorse and grief. I'll never have another (snake).
"It was a terrible, awful accident."
• • •
The authorities believe it was something else.
State law says a python has to be registered and kept in a
locked container. The snake that killed Shaiunna was neither secured
nor registered. The Department of Children and Families removed two other children from the Sumter County home after Shaiunna's death.
The couple was already on DCF's radar.
In May an investigator checked out complaints that the couple
used and sold drugs such as meth, cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy. The
complaint said that Darnell was intemperate and foul-mouthed, Hare was
"high all the time" and the children were being abused. But the investigator found no evidence of abuse.
State records show that Darnell was arrested by Sumter County deputies on drug charges before and after Shaiunna's death.
• • •
After the arrest warrants for the couple were issued Monday,
Jaren Hare, 19, turned herself in at the Wildwood Police Department.
Sheriff's detectives arrested her and took her to the Sumter County
Detention Center in Bushnell. There she joined the 32-year-old Darnell, who was already
being held on charges that he sold cocaine and marijuana and possessed
methamphetamine. Hare's bail was set at $35,000. Darnell was being held without bail.
Both third-degree felony murder and manslaughter carry up to
15-year sentences. Prosecutors will be able to present only one charge
to a jury. Under the felony murder statute, prosecutors can charge
suspects with murder if a death occurred in the commission of another
crime. In this case the other crime is child abuse.

The decision to push ahead with the cases was made Wednesday during court proceedings for three homicide cases, that were again continued without out any trial date being set. Among the cases was that of Jaren Ashley Hare, 20, a defendant in the much publicized case of a pet snake strangling her two-year-old daughter.Hallman ruled her to be indigent Wednesday, whom her lawyer said should free up some money to get the case moving on.
snippedhttp://www.dailycommercial.com/localnews/story/051510homicides
published: Monday, May 17, 2010

Charles Darnell, Jaren Ashley HareA pretrial hearing was set for Sept. 8 for Charles Darnell and his live-in girlfriend, Jaren Ashley Hare, who are charged in the death last July of the woman's 2-year-old child, who was found strangled by the couple's pet Burmese python on July 1, 2009, in their Oxford home. "Let's get him over (here)," Hallman told one defense lawyer after she showed up without her client, Darnell. "We're trying to set a trial date; he needs to be present to understand that."Darnell, 33, then had to be brought to the courtroom from the Sumter County jail.He was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Darnell was convicted afterward on unrelated drug charges for which he is serving an 18-month sentence.Hare, 20, faces the same charges in the death of her child, Shaiunna Hare. Hallman on Wednesday was prepared to set a trial date for the couple when the defendants' lawyers began highlighting issues they said has slowed down their cases. Defense lawyers J. Rhiannon Arnold of Orlando, who represents Darnell, and Mary Hatcher of Bushnell, who represents Hare, said they had just received permission from the Justice Administrative Commission to submit bills for their expenses on the case that include the money needed to question detectives and witnesses.Hallman appeared upset by the delay, but pointed out he wasn't blaming anyone in the courtroom."Nobody is dragging their feet here," he said.Assistant State Attorney Pete Magrino wants the couple to be tried together, citing the interest of "judicial economy.""The evidence, facts and witnesses are too similar," he said. Believing their clients wouldn't receive a fair trial if tried together, Arnold and Hatcher said they would fight such attempts."It isn't legal," Arnold said.According to arrest affidavits and information obtained from the Sumter County Sheriff's Office, Jaren Hare owned the 8 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 Shaiunna'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 - all factors that led investigators to charge the couple, citing reckless behavior.The trial would be precedent-setting, considering the snake attack is believed to be first case in Florida of a nonvenomous constrictor killing a child, and the couple is the first in the state to face criminal charges in a pet-snake death. Magrino said that pretrial publicity could also slow down jury selection. The couple's lawyers wouldn't say if they plan to seek a change in venue for the trial.Hare remains out of jail on bond.
http://www.dailycommercial.com/061810murders

FINALLY!


A date has finally been set for the Jury trial of Charles Darnell and Jaren Ashley Hare - July 11, 2011 at 8:30am. They are both being tried on one count of Manslaughter, one count of Murder in the Third Degree, and one count of Child Neglect. The tragedy of Shaiunna Hare's death, which could have easily been avoided, occurred on July 1, 2009. Justice hasn't happened swiftly in this case, but I hope that the jury presiding over the trial will be fair and accurate in their decision.
http://blumenboas.blogspot.com/

Jury seated in "Python Trial"


2:08 PM, Jul 11, 2011


Oxford, Florida - He said it was an accident.
Charles Jason Darnell and his girlfriend walked briskly out of the Sumter County Courthouse as the media chased them for a comment.
Photo Gallery: Python kills Florida toddler
"It was an accident," he said, referring to the tragic death of his girlfriend's two-year-old little girl, Shaianna, in June 2009 when the family's pet python strangled the toddler.
The eight and a half foot Albino Burmese Python named Gypsy got out of its tank and wrapped its body around the child's head.
A jury was sworn in before 1pm Monday in this manslaughter case, where the child's mother, 21-year-old Jaren Hare, and her boyfriend, 34-year-old Jason Darnell, are on trial.
Opening statements will begin on Tuesday morning at 8:30am.
The trial is expected to last until the end of the week.
Darnell and Hare are accused of child neglect in the death of little Shaianna Hare.
Several potential jurors from Sumter County told attorneys today that they "can not sit on this jury" because they "have grandchildren."
"I can't do this," said one man. "I have grandkids."
"You've already made up your mind?" asked the judge.
"Yes sir," the man answered.
Despite those remarks, a jury was seated.
The mother's boyfriend spoke with detectives when the incident happened and said that the snake was inside the tank when the family went to bed.
However, later that night, Darnell woke up to find Gypsy out of her tank, which had happened many times before in the month that the couple had the reptile.
Darnell said he put the pet inside a mesh bag and then put it back in the tank.
But, the snake got out through a hole in the bag.
The next morning, the mother's boyfriend woke up to a shocking scene.
The snake was wrapped around the toddler's head.
There were bite marks in Shaianna's forehead, although pythons are not known to be poisonous.
Darnell says he hit the snake with a clever and called 911.
Court documents show that Gypsy hadn't been fed in a month, and the only thing keeping the snake inside the tank was a quilt thrown over it.
"The snake's not on trial here," prosecutor Pete Magrino told a reporter.
Hare and Darnell are being tried together.
Gypsy is currently being held by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/200635/19/Jury-seated-in-Python-Trial

Jury picked in killer python case; couple rejected plea deal


By Stephen Hudak, Orlando Sentinel

10:42 p.m. CDT, July 11, 2011



BUSHNELL — As he hurried past reporters at the Sumter County courthouse, where a jury was picked Monday in the case of a killer python, Charles "Jason" Darnell insisted the death of his girlfriend's daughter "was an accident, that's all."
But the panel of six jurors that includes two grandmothers will be asked to decide that issue.
Prosecutors contend Darnell, 34, and the child's mother, Jaren Hare, 21, acted with reckless disregard for the safety of 2-year-old Shaianna Hare on July 1, 2009, when the toddler was strangled by an 8-foot-6-inch Burmese python they kept as a pet.
The couple, who will be tried together, rejected a plea offer that would have capped any prison time at 10 years, Assistant State Attorney Pete Magrino revealed to Circuit Judge William Hallman before jury selection began.
If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, third-degree murder and child neglect as charged, the couple could receive as many as 35 years in prison. Hare gave birth to a child by Darnell about a month after Shaianna was killed.
The albino snake, bought at a flea market for $200, had not eaten for a month before attacking the toddler in her crib and had escaped a glass tank inside the couple's trailer in Oxford, about 60 miles northwest of Orlando. The snake had slithered out of the tank 10 times since its last meal, a road-kill squirrel, according to a Sumter County sheriff's investigation that showed the couple used a quilt as a lid.
Four prospective jurors were booted from the jury pool after admitting they had been tainted by news reports of the child's death or because they had grandchildren and doubted they could fairly assess the couple's guilt.
Defense lawyers J. Rhiannon Arnold and Ismael Solis Jr. also persuaded the judge to dismiss another potential juror because he said that he had given away his dog for fear that it posed a danger to his grandkids.
"I don't think I can do this," the man said. "I feel strongly about a parent's responsibility."
The panel of five women and two men — one of whom will serve as an alternate — were directed to return to the courthouse this morning for opening statements. Magrino said he will not bring the pet python into court, using photographs and expert witnesses to illustrate to jurors the serpent's size and potential danger.
He said he did not want to add to the "circus atmosphere" of the unusual trial, which will focus on the duty of Darnell and Hare to protect Shaianna. A half dozen TV satellite trucks from Orlando and Tampa were anchored on the courthouse lawn, and reporters surrounded the couple as they walked from court to the parking lot.
They have said that they considered the snake — named Gypsy — tame enough for Shaianna to hold with supervision.

http://www.ky3.com/news/nationworld/os-snake-trial-jury-selection-20110711,0,3149338.story

Prosecutor calls snake 'instrument of death' in killer python trial


Defense lawyer calls death 'terrible accident'


BUSHNELL — The grandmother of Shaianna Hare, the toddler strangled in her crib by a pet python in July 2009, testified today that she begged her daughter not to keep the 8-foot-6-inch snake in the house because its container did not have a secure lid.
Sheryl Hare of Weirsdale in Marion County said she so feared for the safety of her tiny granddaughter that she also offered to buy the snake from her daughter, Jaren Hare, 21, for $500 and suggested that they put a plywood lid over the 200-gallon snake tank and anchor the lid with cement blocks.
"We've got dogs," Hare said when asked why she was concerned about the albino Burmese python escaping its tank. "I don't trust the dog, I don't the cat, I don't trust even the snake, no matter how tame they are. I wouldn't even trust a rabbit or anything, even a chicken. My chickens have chased me."
Jaren Hare, Shaianna's mother, and her boyfriend, Charles "Jason" Darnell, 34, are being tried together. If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, third-degree murder and child neglect as charged, the couple could receive as many as 35 years in prison.
A panel of six Sumter County jurors will decide the case.
In her testimony, Sheryl Hare said her husband also offered to come to the house to make a lid for the snake's enclosure. But her daughter replied that Darnell was going to make one — he just never got around to it.
Earlier, in his opening statement, Assistant State Attorney Pete Magrino called the snake that killed the 2-year-old "an instrument of death." But "those two adult defendants are responsible for the unlawful death of Shaianna Hare," Magrino said, pointing at Darnell and Hare, who showed little emotion during the prosecutor's remarks.
Magrino outlined his view that Darnell and Hare failed to protect the child from the snake, which had previously escaped its tank.
While Magrino did not bring the snake into the courtroom today, the veteran homicide prosecutor rolled in the toddler's crib and the 200-gallon aquarium — and the quilt lid — for the jury to view.
Darnell's lawyer, J. Rhiannon Arnold of Orlando, provided an alternative view, describing the child's death as "a terrible accident…that, with Monday morning quarterbacking, seems like it could have been prevented." Hare's lawyer Ismael Solis Jr. of Groveland also called it a terrible accident.
Arnold also tried to distance Darnell from Hare, pointing out that both the snake and the child were hers, not his. She also insisted the python, named Gypsy, was docile.
"This snake was no different than a family dog," she said. "While that could seem strange…some people like cats, some people like dogs. Some people have rabbits, some people have hamsters."
Solis, meanwhile, said Hare, who was 19 when Shaianna was killed, had owned the snake since she was 14. She and Darnell often took the python for a ride in the car and Gypsy rode in the front seat with Hare.
"The snake is like a little puppy to her," Solis said.
Others who testified today were:
•Mathew Shelby, the child-protection investigator for the state Department of Children & Families who visited the trailer shared by Darnell and Hare in the spring of 2009 to look into a hotline complaint that children inside were exposed to drug abuse and environmental hazards. Shelby saw the albino Burmese python in a glass container on top of a TV stand. He said the container was sealed with a lid that was latched.
•Larry Phillips, a paramedic who was the first to arrive at the trailer the morning Shaianna was killed. He carried the child from a bed to the ambulance. He said rigor mortis had begun to set in as the child's limbs did not dangle limply but were rigid. Phillips said he saw puncture marks on the child's upper arms and forehead.
•Athena Ross, a Sumter County deputy sheriff who was among the first law-enforcement officers to arrive at the trailer. She was told the snake was under a dresser in the child's room. Ross also noticed there were no doors on any of the rooms inside the home. She identified pictures of the home, including a snapshot that showed a locked dog pen behind the trailer.
•Tom Ford, a crime-scene technician with the Sumter County Sheriff's Office testified about photos and a video he shot inside the trailer and the toddler's room. The yellowish python peeks out from under the dresser in the video. The footage also shows the toddler's blood stains on bunny-rabbit crib sheets. None of the rooms in the trailer had doors. Ford estimated the distance from the snake tank to the crib to be about 12 feet. He also snapped a photo of clutter and toys on the toddler's floor, including a stuffed animal, a blue snake.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-snake-trial-opening-statements-20110712,0,7733302.story

State Rests In Toddler's Python Death Murder Trial
Mother, Boyfriend Charged With 3rd-Degree Murder
POSTED: Wednesday, July 13, 2011

BUSHNELL, Fla. -- The state rested its case against a mother and her boyfriend who are charged with third-degree murder after the boyfriend's snake strangled and killed the mother's 2-year-old daughter Wednesday morning.

Jury selection was held Monday and the trial began Tuesday against Jaren Hare, 21, and her boyfriend, Charles Darnell, 34.

They are both are charged with third-degree murder, manslaughter and child neglect in the death of Hare's daughter, Shaiunna Hare, who was strangled to death by the family's 8.5-foot pet Burmese python named Gypsy in July 2009.

On Tuesday, a Fish and Wildlife officer testified that Hare did not have a permit for the python as is required under state law. There was not a lock on the tank, which is also required, the officer said.

The prosecution also presented a recorded interview with Darnell in which he described how the snake killed the toddler.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/28533805/detail.html

Jurors find couple guilty of all charges in killer python case
Defense attorney calls having snake as pet a 'stupid decision'

By Stephen Hudak, ORLANDO SENTINEL

2:24 p.m. EDT, July 14, 2011

BUSHNELL — After deliberating for two hours, jurors in the killer python trial this afternoon found Jaren Hare and her boyfriend Charles "Jason" Darnell guilty of all charges in the death of Hare's 2-year-old daughter Shaianna, who was strangled two years ago by an 8-foot-6 inch snake.

Conviction on manslaughter, third-degree murder and child neglect charges could send each to prison for 35 years in prison. Both earlier rejected a pretrial plea agreement that could have put each in prison for up to 10 years.

Earlier, Assistant State Attorney Pete Magrino began his closing argument in the case by showing jurors two pictures with drastically contrasting images.

First, he showed a smiling photo of Shaianna Hare in life, then a post-mortem picture of the 2-year-old who had been bitten and strangled in her crib by a pet albino Burmese python, named Gypsy, that had escaped an aquarium with a quilt as a lid.

Magrino called the child's death in July 2009 "needless, senseless, careless, reckless and the responsibility for Shaianna Hare's death lives with those two defendants," pointing to Shaianna's mother, Jaren Hare, 21, and the mom's live-in boyfriend, Charles "Jason" Darnell, 34. The prosecutor said they were at fault "through their actions and lack of actions."
Get behind the scenes of the Casey Trial. Join our discussion with Sentinel reporters this Friday.

He also pointed out that Jaren Hare's mother, Sheryl Hare, had discussed the infamous photo of a large Burmese python attempting to devour an alligator that it had tangled with in the Everglades.

"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 2-year-old girl," Magrino said.

He stood beside the quilt-topped glass aquarium, which he called "ridiculous to keep a snake in," and told jurors, "the death of Shaianna Hare was totally preventable." He added: "The snake's at not at fault in this case, folks, it's a wild animal."

Magrino ended his argument by taking the 8-foot-6 inch pink string — which a captive-wildlife investigator for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission had used to measure Gypsy's size — and draping it over Shaianna's picture in her crib.

Darnell's defense lawyer J. Rhiannon Arnold began her final remarks by telling the jury, "It was an accident."

She recounted how Darnell — "a grown man" — cried in front of two law-enforcement officers remembering how he found Shaianna. Darnell, seated in the courtroom beside Jaren Hare, dabbed tears from his eyes as Arnold spoke.

In the wake of the tragedy, the Legislature changed state rules to prohibit the possession of Burmese pythons and other large constrictor snakes.

"Charles Darnell and Jaren Hare never in their wildest dreams ever thought this would ever happen," Arnold said. "They had no idea that their tame pet would suddenly go wild."

Concluding her remarks, Arnold said Darnell was not guilty of manslaughter, third-degree murder or child neglect.

"He is guilty of making a stupid decision and having a stupid pet," she said. "He's guilty of not being a dog-lover and liking snakes."

Hare's lawyer Ismael Solis Jr. of Groveland gripped the poster-sized photo of Shaianna in his hands and called the death of Jaren Hare's toddler "a dagger across her soul."

"That event will shadow her for the rest of her life," Solis said. "But there's not a scintilla of evidence that Jaren Ashley Hare was ever a bad mother."

Solis said the prosecutor had unfairly raised the image of the Burmese python battling an alligator in the Everglades. He said Gypsy wasn't that snake — she was a family pet.

"We're talking about Gypsy, a pet that turned killer," Solis said.

Regarding Shaianna, "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," Solis said. "She was a loving mother."

He said Hare had owned the snake since was 14 and knew Gypsy to be docile and a source of joy.

Shaianna Biolgical father Joseph Gilkerson of Leesburg has been watching the trial. Wouldn't comment until after the verdict.

Check back later for updates.

shudak@tribune.com or 352-742-5930

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-killer-python-verdict-20110715,0,4364601.story

It wasn't the snake's fault...Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
The time to harbor unregistered lethal animals ends when you have a child in the house...Asshats!
Look how big these things can get!!!

Wonder how long they will get. 10 years or more?

Is it normal to not feed a python for a month?

Reptile-loving couple sentenced to 12 years in prison in killer python case
But a defense lawyer thinks the verdict in Casey Anthony's trial helped convict the couple


By Stephen Hudak, ORLANDO SENTINEL
5:33 p.m. EDT, August 24, 2011

BUSHNELL — A reptile-loving couple convicted of manslaughter for failing to protect a toddler from their pet python was sentenced today to 12 years in prison, but their lawyers believe jurors in the case were influenced by the verdict in the Casey Anthony trial.

"I don't think after watching one Central Florida accused child-killer walk free…that they wanted that to happen to anyone else accused (in a child killing) whether they fully believed the case was proven to them beyond a reasonable doubt or not," said J. Rhiannon Arnold, defense lawyer for Charles "Jason" Darnell.

Darnell, 34, and his live-in girlfriend, Jaren Hare, 21, faced a possible 45 years in prison for manslaughter and child neglect. They turned down a pretrial plea offer that would have capped their prison time at 10 years.

They also will have to serve five years probation upon their release from prison.

Arnold's claim was brushed away by assistant state attorney Pete Magrino, who argued that the couple had "abdicated" their responsibility not only to 2-year-old Shaianna Hare but also to Gypsy, the 8-foot-6-inch Burmese python.

"Unfortunately some criminal defense practitioners will say anything to justify in their own mind their position," Magrino said. "The jurors took an oath, and I firmly believe the jurors followed their oath with regard to this case and their findings of fact. The evidence presented to them in this case was overwhelming."

The couple's case was decided a week after jurors in Orange County found Anthony not guilty of murder in the death of her toddler daughter, Caylee. Arnold and fellow defense lawyer Ismael Solis Jr. called the death of Shaianna Hare a terrible "accident," pointing out the pet python had never attacked anyone in the home.

The toddler was bitten and strangled in her crib by the exotic constrictor snake which slithered from a glass tank in the couple's mobile home in Oxford, a rural community located about 60 miles northwest of Orlando.

A medical examiner testified that the snake was trying to eat the child.

The snake, which, at 13 1/2 pounds, was grossly underweight, repeatedly escaped the 200-gallon tank, which had a quilt as a lid, before the fatal attack on July 1, 2009. A snake expert testified during the couple's trial that an albino Burmese python of Gypsy's age should have weighed about 150 pounds.

The snake remains in custody of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Gypsy "is healthy, well cared for and being used for training our armed forces" at Eglin Air Force Base in the Panhandle, Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Joy Hill said. "It is a much healthier and heavier snake than it was."

Circuit Judge William "Bud" Hallman, who imposed the sentence on the couple, said he mulled over defense arguments that the tragedy could have happened to anyone who keeps a big dog, a horse or other large animal.

"Horses eat grass, they eat oats — that's different from a wild animal that unfortunately, based on the testimony, eats small mammals," he said. "The child was a small mammal, which is on the menu for a wild animal, which a snake is."

The judge compared keeping the python to keeping an alligator in the house.

The couple, who sat side-by-side in green-and-white striped jail jumpsuits, both expressed remorse.

"There's no way I would cause any harm to any of my children," Darnell said.

Hare said she would "always feel pain for what happened" to her daughter.

The couple became parents to another daughter, Keira, born about a month after Shaianna's death.

Darnell's lawyer said the child is in the care of a relative.

Carrie Hoeppner, a spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Families, said the agency looked into the well-being for the child after the couple was taken into custody following the verdict. "We were comfortable with the family's arrangements for that child, which will clearly be long-term arrangements," she said. "We'll always be available to them and this child should they need assistance or support during these next years."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-killer-python-sentencing-20110824,0,6052469.story