07-11-2011, 11:44 AM
BUSHNELL — Jury section is under way this morning in the trial of a Sumter County couple charged with manslaughter and child neglect in the 2009 death of a 2-year-old girl strangled to death by a pet python.
The accused, Jaren Hare, mother of the toddler, Shaianna Hare, and Hare's boyfriend Charles "Jason" Darnell, rejected a plea bargain.
On Monday, both Hare and Darnell told the judge they rejected an offer that would have required them to plead guilty to manslaughter.
The offer would have meant nine years in prison for both of them. The couple risks three times that amount of time in prison by going to trial.
Judge William Hallman was starting with 21 prospective jurors, quizzing them about pretrial publicity and news accounts of the incident. Some prospective jurors' eyes widened as they learned that the case they may decide involves a python that killed a child.
The accused, Jaren Hare, mother of the toddler, Shaianna Hare, and Hare's boyfriend Charles "Jason" Darnell, rejected a plea bargain.
On Monday, both Hare and Darnell told the judge they rejected an offer that would have required them to plead guilty to manslaughter.
The offer would have meant nine years in prison for both of them. The couple risks three times that amount of time in prison by going to trial.
Judge William Hallman was starting with 21 prospective jurors, quizzing them about pretrial publicity and news accounts of the incident. Some prospective jurors' eyes widened as they learned that the case they may decide involves a python that killed a child.