Call for help came too late
By time Turley dialed 911, teen had no pulse, prosecution says
Victoria Turley was the adult “in charge” of Shannon Raymond as the 16-year-old steadily deteriorated in her home, yet she failed to provide sufficient care, a court heard Tuesday.
In closing arguments in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, prosecutor Jay Fogel said Turley, 40, should have sought medical care the moment Shannon had her first seizure in her Maple Ridge home.
“From that period of time, [Shannon] was not simply very drunk. She was not simply intoxicated. She was in medical distress,” said Fogel.
Turley is charged with failing to provide the necessities of life in connection with Shannon’s death in July 2008.
During the course of the trial, the court heard Shannon had been drinking and had taken two ecstasy tablets aboard a party bus before she arrived at the Turley residence at around 1:30 a.m.
Turley, who was celebrating her own birthday that same night, took it upon herself to take care of Shannon from around 2 to 4:20 a.m.
She also initially barred others from going into the room.
Crown said Turley was aware Shannon had taken ecstasy and that she knew about Shannon’s seizures and incontinence, and that Shannon had passed out, had stiff arms and was alternately hot and cold — symptoms not consistent with simply being drunk.
“That was a circumstance that demanded more than rubbing her shoulders and telling her everything will be OK,” said Fogel.
Yet Turley did not call paramedics or Shannon’s parents at that time, nor did she drive the teen to hospital three minutes away, he said.
By the time Turley called 911 at 6 a.m., Shannon had no pulse. She died of ecstasy toxicity, the Crown stated.
Defence lawyer David Milburn argued the Crown cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt Turley knew about the seizures or that there was “foreseeability” that failure to act would endanger Shannon’s life.
He questioned whether the seizures even took place, saying they could have been symptoms of a nightmare.
The amount of ecstasy found in Shannon’s system was that of a recreational user’s, he said, not toxic levels.
Milburn said the duty to act was triggered at the time Shannon was found to be not breathing, and that was when Turley called 911.
Justice Sunny Stromberg-stein is expected to issue her verdict on March 2.