Q: My friend is being charged with the death of her 2 yr old son while she was at work. How is this even right?
My friend has been arrested and charged with three counts of m1 child endangerment, f3 child endangerment and f1 involuntary manslaughter. Like every other day she had to go to work and her fiancé was getting off work in a few hours so she had her 17 year old brother watch her twin 2 year old boys and the 2 girls who are in grade school I believe. On this day the fiancé came home from work and saw three of the kids in the living room playing and went to go to the bedroom to find the other twin boy because it seemed different for him not to be up and playing at this time of day and he found the little boy face down unresponsive and he administered cpr and called 911 and at the hospital that little boy was pronounced deceased. The mother was at work at this time and they both have viable proof they were both at work. Just wondering why she is getting charged instead of the brother who was watching the little boy.
A:
IT IS HARD FOR ME TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION. I WOULD NEED MORE FACTS. HOWEVER, YOUR FRIEND, THE MOTHER OF THE CHILDREN, IS THE CUSTODIAN AND GUARDIAN OF THE MINOR CHILDREN. SHE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WELL BEING OF THOSE CHILDREN. SHOULD SHE PUT THOSE CHILDREN IN HARM'S WAY, SHE IS CRIMINALLY RESPONSIBLE. IF SHE KNEW, OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, THAT THE CHILDREN WERE IN DANGER BY PUTTING THEM IN THE POSSESSION OF SOMEONE ELSE, THEN SHE COULD BE HELD CRIMINALLY RESPONSIBLE.
THE FOREGOING IS THE BEST I CAN ANSWER WITH THE LIMITED FACTS THAT HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO ME.
BEST WISHES,
PATRICK DICHIRO
A: The safety of the children is ultimately the responsibility of the guardian. If she leaves them in untrustworthy hands, she may be held responsible for that. But a 17 year old is generally capable of caring for children. The state may have a difficult case. But a lot depends on the specific facts. Certain things could be very important. For example, if the 17 year old was know to her to be addicted to drugs, and wasn’t caring for the kids but high instead, she would responsible. These are serious charges. She needs to get a lawyer involved ASAP.
Dimitrios Makridis agrees with this answer
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