The trial of a Marysville police officer who was charged with manslaughter after his 7-year-old daughter was fatally shot by her younger brother in March is expected to begin tomorrow morning in Everett.
Jenna Carlile was shot on March 10 when
Officer Derek Carlile, who was off duty, and his wife stopped in
Stanwood on their way to a wedding. The couple got out of their minivan,
leaving their four children, ages 1 to 7, inside with the loaded
.38-caliber revolver.
According to charging documents,
Carlile’s 3-year-old son crawled into the front seat, grabbed the
handgun from an open bin and shot Jenna once in the abdomen. The girl
later died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
In charging documents, prosecutors said that
Carlile and his wife told Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives that
their son was fascinated by guns and was constantly trying to get into
his father’s gun safe at home nightclub dress shops .
Prosecutors argue that Carlile failed to heed
the danger and risk involved in leaving the loaded, unsecured firearm in
an enclosed van with four unsupervised children.
Carlile’s attorney, David Allen, has argued
that state laws do not address potential criminal penalties for adults
who make it possible for children to get their hands on firearms.
Carlile did not actively cause his daughter’s death by handing the gun
to his son, or by telling the boy to shoot, Allen said in court
documents.
Carlile, who has been with the Marysville Police Department since 2009, has been on paid administrative leave since the shooting
If convicted of second-degree manslaughter, he
could face a standard sentence range of one year and nine months to two
years and three months in prison.
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