Mother video-recorded toddler daughter smoking marijuana
A US woman today admitted giving her two-year-old daughter marijuana and using her mobile phone to record the child smoking it.
Jessica Gamble (aged 21) pleaded guilty to corruption of another with drugs and tampering with evidence, court officials in Cincinnati said.
Prosecutors dropped a child endangering charge in exchange for the plea, prosecutor’s spokeswoman Julie Wilson said.
Gamble had faced a maximum sentence of 11½ years on all three charges. She now faces up to 6½ years.
Gamble has suffered from learning disabilities and mental health issues, including depression, defence lawyer James Hartke said. He said he hoped the judge would sentence her to probation.
“That would allow her to go into parenting and substance abuse programmes and come out of this situation a better person,” Hartke said.
The child is now being cared for by a relative, but Hartke said he hoped Gamble could eventually be reunited with her.
Gamble gave the toddler marijuana and used her phone to record video of the girl smoking at her home in August, prosecutors said.
The video shows the child handling and puffing on a marijuana cigarette. It came to police attention after another person gave a copy of the video to the state family services agency.
Judge Ethna Cooper ordered Gamble to be held without bail pending her December 16 sentencing. She was ordered to undergo mental health evaluation.
