BY KEITH EPPS
The parents of a 2-year-old girl who strangled to death in a car seat won't have to go to prison.
Charity Joy Demas, 33, and Timothy William Demas, 35, got suspended sentences yesterday following a hearing in Stafford County Circuit Court that lasted nearly four hours.
Their daughter Ariana Demas died Oct. 10 of last year while strapped in a car seat inside her home in North Stafford.
Judge J. Martin Bass called the child's death "completely and utterly tragic."
Ariana, the youngest of four Demas children, was put into the seat by her mother because the child was fussy and her mother was too tired to stay up with her, according to testimony.
Charity Demas was convicted of child neglect and received a suspended five-year prison term.
Timothy Demas got a suspended 12-month sentence on his misdemeanor conviction for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
According to prosecutor Eric Olsen's statement of facts, none of the children in the Demas' $400,000 house had his own bed. Ariana generally slept with her parents and on occasion was placed in a car seat to sleep.
According to the evidence, on the night Ariana died Charity Demas stayed up until 1 a.m. working on an art project for a college course. When Ariana began fussing, her mother tried to nurse her, but the baby rejected that effort.
Charity Demas testified that she knew the child wanted to be carried around, "but I couldn't do it. I was too tired."
Demas said she placed the child in the car seat and took her to another room, in part so her husband could sleep. She said she had done it a couple of times before and it worked out fine.
"If I had any thought that what happened could happen, she would have never been in there," Demas said. "I more than loved my daughter; I cherished her."
Demas said she got up the next morning and got ready for class. Just before she was about to leave, she woke her husband to let him know he had to supervise the children.
Just before she walked out the door, Demas said, she checked on Ariana and her neck was against the strap of the car seat. She said the child looked dead, "but I hoped that she wasn't."
The girl was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Olsen argued that Charity Demas deserved some time in incarceration. He said the children were victims of ongoing neglect, including living in a filthy house and not attending school.
He also claimed that another Demas child has a curable medical condition that Charity Demas has resisted treatment for.
Defense attorneys Jim Ilijevich and Terence Patton rejected claims that the Demases were bad parents.
Ilijevich put on extensive evidence showing that while the Demases had not followed state law in home-schooling their children, Charity Demas was giving them adequate instruction.
The other three children are now in public school.
The defense attorneys also put on a number of witnesses, mostly members of the Demases' church--Mount Ararat Baptist--who portrayed the couple as loving and attentive parents.
The Demases' suspended sentences include a number of conditions, including parenting classes.
Keith Epps: 540/374-5404
Email: kepps@freelancestar.com