Pubdate: Wed, 03 Aug 2005
Source: Bozeman Daily Chronicle (MT)
Copyright: 2005 The Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Contact:  http://bozemandailychronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1686
Author: Kellyn Brown, Chronicle Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

GARDINER WOMAN HANDED FIVE YEARS FOR LETTING TODDLER SMOKE POT

A Gardiner woman previously convicted of encouraging her 18-month-old 
daughter to smoke marijuana was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison.

A federal judge in U.S. District Court in Billings also handed 24-year-old 
Jessica Lynne Durham four years probation. The ruling came almost eight 
months after she was found guilty of distributing marijuana to a person 
under the age of 18.

That ruling, reached by U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull, was a result of 
a one-day trial before the judge, who heard the case without a jury. At the 
time, Cebull told the Associated Press, "I haven't seen a case like this."

According to court records, Durham told her friend, Brandi Nichols, also of 
Gardiner, to take photographs of her toddler smoking pot out of a bong, 
saying it would be "cool" to send the pictures to High Times, a marijuana 
magazine.

Nichols also testified at trial that Durham let her daughter smoke 
marijuana because the little girl wasn't eating or sleeping enough.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, Durham will at least 
serve 85 percent of her five-year sentence.
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