Teen sentenced for coaxing toddlers to smoke pot

[infekt]

Teen sentenced for coaxing toddlers to smoke pot

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- A teenager shown on a video coaxing his 2- and 4-year-old nephews into smoking marijuana was sentenced Thursday to eight years in prison.

Demetris McCoy, 18, pleaded guilty to two charges of injury to a child/causing bodily injury and agreed to testify against his co-defendant, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported online Thursday.

The video shows one teen lighting a marijuana cigarette in the 2-year-old's mouth, then laughing as the toddler coughs. One teen then tells him to pass it to his brother, who also smokes it and coughs. Parts of the video showed someone calling the children "potheads" and asking if they "have the munchies."

Drug tests showed the youngsters had marijuana and cocaine in their bodies. When the video was made, the children's mother was sleeping in another room, police have said. She was not arrested.

The children, their mother, grandmother and McCoy lived together at the time. The children have since been placed in foster care.

Fort Worth police found the video while searching a house in connection with a burglary investigation in which McCoy also was charged. He pleaded guilty to two burglary charges and received eight-year sentences that he will served at the same time, the newspaper reported.

The co-defendant Vanswan Polty, 19, remains in jail awaiting trial. He faces two charges of injury to a child, three charges of burglary and one charge of failing to identify himself to a peace officer.

Reference: http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/25/....ap/index.html

Reputation Comments on this post:

informative

[Nargyle]

This seriously makes swim outraged, how can anyone be so stupid as to give pot to toddlers?, with such people of course drug users are seen as bad and morally corrupt, when in reality it's only a very small minority, but that minority gets all the media attention. Aaagghhhhh.

[AntiAimer]

Originally Posted by Nargyle

This seriously makes swim outraged, how can anyone be so stupid as to give pot to toddlers?, with such people of course drug users are seen as bad and morally corrupt, when in reality it's only a very small minority, but that minority gets all the media attention. Aaagghhhhh.

Same could be said with Tylenol, but that's right, it actually does cause bodily harm and has killed 1000's of people so it's ok because it's OTC.

But the idiot(s) got what they deserve, the kids also had coke in there system and the idiots robbed someone.

[Nargyle]

Originally Posted by AntiAimer

Same could be said with Tylenol, but that's right, it actually does cause bodily harm and has killed 1000's of people so it's ok because it's OTC.

Yes, but tylenol is not given to them with the purpose of harming them or using them as a twisted joke, people give kids tylenol because they are unaware of the dangers and the kids really need it either to lower fever or reduce pain, which is much more than what can be said about these idiots.

[Heretic.Ape.]

As if pot isn't outrageous enough, much more troubling is the cocaine found in the children's systems. Unbelievable. What a twisted fucker.

[vinylmesh]

2 year old snorting coke....that's bad

[DanceRat]

As a mom, that upsets me to no end. SWIM would like to spend about a day with that person lecturing them about taking care of the small young section of our population. SWIM has no problem with older people taking certain substances as long as they are old enough to make the choice on their own and they understand all the side effects and understanding of what they are doing. Except cigarettes. No-one should ever smoke those. They are evil.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Damn right, informed sensible post

[kaczynski]

that is just too bad

Reputation Comments on this post:

What's wrong with you?

[Nargyle]

WTF??? What's wrong with you??? How can you say giving pot and cocaine to small children is the same as giving a cat catnip??? F**k, you seriously are messed up man.

Originally Posted by kaczynski

8 years in prison?! To me that seems deserving of community service and probation if anything. It's like giving a cat catnip. They don't know what the fuck it is but it's not gonna hurt them...

[kaczynski]

Originally Posted by Nargyle

WTF??? What's wrong with you??? How can you say giving pot and cocaine to small children is the same as giving a cat catnip??? F**k, you seriously are messed up man.

Are you serious dude? Obviously this guy deserves prison time, and obviously some people are incapable of recognizing sarcasm when they see it. Wow, great job asshole.

Reputation Comments on this post:

geeze, ever heard the statment "if ya got nothin good to say, don't say anything"... give that a try as your m...

[Heretic.Ape.]

Really the sentence is fairly minimum. The child endangerment sentence is being served during the same time as the burglary charges, effectively not happening.

[allyourbase]

its people like this.....

[Micklemouse]

Kaczinsky, there was nothing in your previous post to indicate it was meant sarcastically, or in any way but as it appeared - there is no intonation to text on the internet so of course you are going to be taken seriously unless you clearly indicate a post is sarcastic post.

Flaming is not tolerated here. Please read the Rules & be careful what, & how, you write.

[kaczynski]

Originally Posted by Micklemouse

Kaczinsky, there was nothing in your previous post to indicate it was meant sarcastically, or in any way but as it appeared - there is no intonation to text on the internet so of course you are going to be taken seriously unless you clearly indicate a post is sarcastic post.

Flaming is not tolerated here. Please read the Rules & be careful what, & how, you write.

I apologize, it seemed to me like it was such a preposterous statement that it would be recognized as a joke.

[Spare Chaynge]

swim seems to think these guys might have problems in jail and might need to be in protective custody.. a lot of people in jail have kids.

[Lobsang]

I think the sentence is way to harsh. The kids just made a bad decision and got carried away. I do not think their intent was to cause harm at all. Just to have a little fun. I think the sentence is an over reaction that is in tune with the mind set of the time. I mean yes it was a stupid thing to give little children drugs. Especially cocaine. But I can understand the thought process of the kids that gave the young children the drugs. So I think they needed to be punished I guess. But not what they got. I think there should have been a different remedy to the situation.

[Nargyle]

I don't think the sentence is too harsh, if they had given the kids alcohol I would expect the same sentence, however this is where society becomes hypocritical because had they given them booze they wouldn't have such sentence, little kids are not toys!

Originally Posted by Lobsang

I think the sentence is way to harsh. The kids just made a bad decision and got carried away. I do not think their intent was to cause harm at all. Just to have a little fun. I think the sentence is an over reaction that is in tune with the mind set of the time. I mean yes it was a stupid thing to give little children drugs. Especially cocaine. But I can understand the thought process of the kids that gave the young children the drugs. So I think they needed to be punished I guess. But not what they got. I think there should have been a different remedy to the situation.

[Spare Chaynge]

The sentence was to harsh in this swims mind.. they are 18 years old... there is not rehabilitation in jail.. these people should of done 9 months in jail and should be required to get counseling, community service like 750 hours of it,, strict strict probation with drug testing, and some kind of ankle monitoring bracelet to monitor there location and if they consume alcohol... swim thinks that since drugs were involved it is reasonable. also some sort of class like a drug or alcohol one.

[chillinwill]

this is why SWIM hates the US and its goal of locking anyone up that breaks any law....what these kids do is wrong and they deserved to be punished but not thrown in jail....by throwing non violent offenders in jail like this people, the jails are so overcrowded etc....if they would just put the kids on probation and do like spare chaynge said, there would be more room for violent offenders in jail

[sunyata]

Originally Posted by chillinwill

by throwing non violent offenders in jail like this people, the jails are so overcrowded etc....if they would just put the kids on probation and do like spare chaynge said, there would be more room for violent offenders in jail

I think giving someone drugs without consent is the same as poisoning them, no matter if the drug is relatively harmless, and that is definately an act of violence. That it was also an act of stupidity rather than malice seems obvious, but it indicates a fundamental lack of respect for not only children, but also for other humans. Using them for amusement....
This is nothing short of child abuse and laws against it should be harsh.
That parents give their kids bad medicines and allow them to drink sodas with aspertam has no relevance in this case.

[chillinwill]

Originally Posted by sunyata

I think giving someone drugs without consent is the same as poisoning them, no matter if the drug is relatively harmless, and that is definately an act of violence. That it was also an act of stupidity rather than malice seems obvious, but it indicates a fundamental lack of respect for not only children, but also for other humans. Using them for amusement....
This is nothing short of child abuse and laws against it should be harsh.
That parents give their kids bad medicines and allow them to drink sodas with aspertam has no relevance in this case.

i agree with you here that it is a lack of respect and is basically like poisoning them; however, I see this as a mistake that can be reprimanded through other ways than jail....however I just went back and read the article again and noticed that they had burglary charges too so maybe they do deserve some time

[Lobsang]

Well does a mother who takes crack while her baby is in her get eight years in prison? Even a parent that whips their kid does not get 6 years. And we have to look at intent. These kids were not trying to hurt the babies. They were trying to get them high. They did not rape them or try and hurt them. It was all in fun. Yes it was a mistake. But it was not done to harm. I think this was takien way way too far.

[sunyata]

Originally Posted by Lobsang

Well does a mother who takes crack while her baby is in her get eight years in prison? Even a parent that whips their kid does not get 6 years. And we have to look at intent. These kids were not trying to hurt the babies. They were trying to get them high. They did not rape them or try and hurt them. It was all in fun. Yes it was a mistake. But it was not done to harm. I think this was takien way way too far.

There is a difference between the pregnant crack smoker and these two, though it makes no difference at all to the child. The pregnant crack smoker is addicted and is for some reason "unable" to quit,she's not doing an experiment to see the reaction of the child. Even the father who whips his kids do it from some flawed sense of duty.
And I am not defending either, smoking crack throughout the pregnancy and beating your children will probably hurt them more than what the two teens were doing.
But they did it for kicks, not because their nervous system was revolting and not because they wanted to teach their child a lesson, their intent was to have fun at the childrens expense.

The sentencing itself might be too harsh when compared to other sentences, I know very little of what is standard sentencing in these cases, I just reacted to the idea that it was non-violent.
When it comes to pregnant crack smokers I am very unsure about throwing them in jail, but people who beat children, for whatever reason, deserves time in jail, and so do these two imo.

[drug-bot]

Originally Posted by chillinwill

this is why SWIM hates the US and its goal of locking anyone up that breaks any law....what these kids do is wrong and they deserved to be punished but not thrown in jail....by throwing non violent offenders in jail like this people, the jails are so overcrowded etc....if they would just put the kids on probation and do like spare chaynge said, there would be more room for violent offenders in jail

Originally Posted by Lobsang

Well does a mother who takes crack while her baby is in her get eight years in prison? Even a parent that whips their kid does not get 6 years. And we have to look at intent. These kids were not trying to hurt the babies. They were trying to get them high. They did not rape them or try and hurt them. It was all in fun. Yes it was a mistake. But it was not done to harm. I think this was takien way way too far.

also remember they were convicted of 2 home burglarys, so their obviously a danger to society, couple that with giving toddlers marijuana and cocaine, what if one of the toddlers had a seizure or died from being given too much coke, only a sociopath would give a toddler weed and coke and film it laughing, they deserve what they got.

[podge]

This was indeed a wreckless act. Why though were the children put into foster care ? Does this is some way imply the parents were aware of the act ? Im surprised they didnt mention "Cocaine" in the headline too.