Anna Raines and Jesse Gunn: Parents of young child victim of drug overdose face more than a decade in prison
YORK COUNTY, VIRGINIA: The parents of a two-year-old Virginia girl who died after using drugs, including fentanyl and a veterinary tranquilizer, are sentenced to more than a decade in prison for the toddler’s death in 2022.
According to court records, a York County Circuit Court judge ordered Anna E Raines and Jesse A Gunn to each serve 11 years in a state correctional facility for their roles in the tragic death of the little girl, reports Law and Crime.
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Anna Raines and Jesse Gunn pleaded guilty last month
Raines, 30, and Gunn, 38, both pleaded guilty last month to one count each of voluntary manslaughter and child abuse. The court then sentenced the parents to 10 years each for manslaughter and five years each for child abuse, with four of the five years suspended.
The sentences must be served consecutively, that is, one after the other, for a total of 11 years. The evil duo was facing criminal homicide charges before reaching deals with prosecutors at the York County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
In addition to their prison sentence, Raines and Gunn will also have to serve 10 years of post-release supervision.
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When were the authorities informed of the incident?
York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a residence located in the 100 block of Aberfeldy Way in Kiln Creek regarding an infant who was not breathing around 9:54 a.m. on July 7, 2022.
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After first responders arrived, emergency medical services (EMS) personnel arrived at the residence and found the little girl unresponsive, authorities said.
She was declared dead by doctors at the scene around 10 a.m., despite life-saving measures. Deputies initially took Raines and Gunn into custody due to the conditions the child was living in, with first responders describing the home as being in “disarray.”
The parents and the victim lived in a bedroom in the home of Raines’ father, Timothy Lee Raines, a family physician.
The little child seemed to have been dead for some time
According to a doctor at the scene, the child appeared to have been dead for some time, as lividity, a post-mortem accumulation of blood, had already set in on the child’s body. In addition, one of the victim’s arms was colder than the rest of her body and she had “wrinkles” on her face.
Authorities also said there were piles of clothing, trash and dirty dishes, as well as an uncleaned litter box that was overflowing with feces. Additionally, the victim’s crib was littered with cigarette butts, loose change, and a pile of urine-soaked blankets.
What did authorities find in Anna Raines and Jesse Gunn’s bedroom?
Authorities later revealed they recovered “several used syringes as well as a plastic bin containing new syringes” from the bedroom, as well as capsules containing heroin, all within reach of the small child.
“It was particularly about where the mother, father and baby were staying, in that one room,” Maj. Ron Montgomery said following last year’s arrests.
“That’s where the living conditions were really bad,” he added.
The couple was initially charged with child neglect, but those charges were upgraded following the receipt of an autopsy report concluding that the child died from exposure to drugs and nicotine, authorities said.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined the victim’s cause of death to be “a combined acute overdose of fentanyl and xylazine in addition to nicotine exposure.”
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