Cocaine Mother Gets 15 Years Probation

A judge on Friday imposed 15 years of probation on a cocaine-addicted mother convicted of delivering drugs to two of her children through their umbilical cords at birth.

Terms of the probation period included a year of strict supervision by probation officers during at least a year in a rehabilitation program, random drug testing at least once a month for a year, educational and vocational training, an intense prenatal program if she should become pregnant again and 200 hours of community service.

Jennifer Johnson, 23, had faced up to a 30-year prison sentence on the conviction under a law usually applied to criminals engaged in illegal drug transactions.

“I don’t have any desire to hurt you. . . . I’m not here to put you in prison,” Circuit Judge O. H. Eaton Jr. told Johnson before handing down the sentence.

Johnson is believed to be the first mother in Florida--and one of only a few in the country--convicted under a criminal drug-dealing law of providing drugs to her newborns.

In a non-jury trial last month, Eaton determined that Johnson had delivered cocaine to her babies through their umbilical cords. He acquitted her of a child-abuse count.

The children--a boy born in 1987 and a girl born in January--are cared for by relatives and are described as in good health. But scientists have said that cocaine can cause neurological problems, premature birth and even death in newborns.

Justifying the conviction under the statute that prohibits “delivery” of an illegal substance from one person to another, the judge ruled that “a child who is born but whose umbilical cord has not been severed is a person” within Florida law.

“She’s used up all her chances,” prosecutor Jeff Deen said. “We need to ensure that this woman does not give birth to another cocaine baby. . . . The message is that this community cannot afford to have two or three cocaine babies from the same person.”

Defense attorney James Sweeting, who is appealing the conviction, maintained again that his client should not have been tried under the drug-delivery statute. He said the Florida Legislature intended the law for drug traffickers, not mothers and children.