Pubdate: Sat, 03 Mar 2012
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Neal Hall

WOMAN ACQUITTED IN OVERDOSE DEATH OF TEEN

Victoria Turley Provided Reasonable and Sufficient Care, Judge Finds

A woman accused of failing to provide sufficient medical assistance 
to a 16-year-old girl who died after taking ecstasy has been acquitted.

At the end of a 90-minute oral judgment, B. C. Supreme Court Justice 
Sunny Stromberg- Stein acquitted Victoria Turley of failing to 
provide the necessaries of life to Shannon Raymond, who died while 
sleeping at her Maple Ridge home.

At the time, Turley said the overdosing teen would be fine and 
suggested she sleep it off.

Both sides burst into tears when the judge announced her verdict.

The accused cried tears of relief as she hugged family members.

Shannon's mother, Julie Raymond, and older sister, Danielle, cried 
tears of grief.

The girl's mother said outside court that no amount of rainfall could 
equal the tears she shed for her daughter. "Morally and ethically, 
everyone that was there that night is responsible for Shannon's 
death," she told reporters. "Shannon would still be alive if someone 
had done the right thing."

Someone should have called 911, the mother said.

The judge found that Turley's care that night was reasonable and 
sufficient, saying it is difficult to predict how someone will react 
to ecstasy. "It's a tragedy that Ms. Raymond paid the ultimate price 
with her death," the judge said, concluding the Crown failed to meet 
the burden of proving its case.

The trial heard evidence from Shannon's friends, one of whom 
testified her friend began screaming at one point hours before she died.

Dunn testified she suggested the group call an ambulance, but her 
friend eventually settled down and fell asleep. Dunn noticed 
Shannon's arms appeared to be rigidly extended and her head was 
moving from side to side. She was found unresponsive without a pulse 
at about 6 a. m. on July 26, 2008.

The trial heard that Shannon and her friends were to sleep at the 
home of another friend who had organized a birthday party aboard a "party bus."

Some of the kids had bought booze, including Shannon, who had shared 
the purchase of a bottle of lemon rum.

Those on the bus weren't sure how much she'd had to drink.

But Dunn told the court that when she discovered her friend had taken 
two ecstasy pills, she and others made sure Shannon drank lots of water.

When the teens got off the party bus at their original destination 
Shannon got sick, prompting the mother to cancel the sleepover.

Dunn recalled Turley's son, Spencer, said they could come to his 
house. When they got there, Turley was out celebrating her own 
birthday with friends and didn't get home until after 1 a. m. But she 
made sure Shannon was lying down and kept an eye on her when she got 
home, Dunn recalled.

Shannon made an unusual gurgling sound at 5: 22 a. m., Dunn said, 
recalling she looked at her phone to see what time it was, but she 
was still breathing.

Dunn eventually fell asleep in the room with her friend and was 
awakened by someone saying "Her skin is cold. Call 911."

The 16-year-old was dead by the time the ambulance paramedics arrived.
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