MACHIAS, Maine — A man found not guilty last month of manslaughter in connection with the death of his 12-year-old diabetic son was sentenced Wednesday in Washington County Superior Court to three years in prison for giving the boy a small amount of Valium.
Edward Smith, 44, formerly of Lubec was found guilty on Dec. 22 of aggravated furnishing of a scheduled drug, a Class C crime, following a jury-waived trial. In addition to manslaughter, Superior Court Justice Robert Murray found Smith not guilty of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.
Smith admitted giving his son one-quarter of a 10-milligram Valium tablet prescribed for the father.
Dr. Margaret Greenwald, the retired medical examiner who performed the boy’s autopsy, testified at the trial that Valium did not contribute to his death. She said that Aloric Smith died of diabetic ketoacidosis.
Diabetic ketoacidosis occurs when a person with diabetes becomes dehydrated, according to the website emedicinehealth.com. The condition results in the body consuming its muscle, fat and liver cells for fuel. Common causes for the condition are infections that include diarrhea and vomiting.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Davidson of Machias said after the sentencing because he had no criminal record and was trying to help the boy, Smith should have been sentenced to less time than he was held awaiting trial. Because that was not possible, Davidson recommended his client be sentenced to time served, about 15 months.
Smith was arrested in October 2013 in Rogersville, Missouri, and has been behind bars ever since. Smith has been incarcerated at the Washington County Jail, unable to post $5,000 cash or a $50,000 surety bail.
The time Smith has been jailed will be applied to his three-year sentence.
Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin urged the judge to impose the maximum sentence of five years in prison.
“The only mitigating circumstances are that Smith has no prior criminal record and that he made some effort, albeit a poor effort, to get Aloric to his quarterly appointments with the Diabetes, [Endocrine and Nutrition] Center in Bangor,” the prosecutor wrote in her eight-page sentencing memorandum. “An aggravating factor, however, is that Smith failed to follow medical instructions for his child.”
Those instructions, according to trial testimony, included that Smith should call the center if the boy developed flu-like symptoms.
Smith testified the last day of the trial that he “would have dragged him to the hospital whether he liked it or if not” if he’d understood the child was suffering from anything more than a stomach flu. The father maintained that he made a mistake in not seeking medical care for Aloric Smith, who died at home on April 4, 2012, but believed that his actions were not criminal.
He told the judge that the boy had vomited and had suffered the symptoms of a “stomach bug” previously and recovered.
Davidson said Wednesday that by seeking the maximum sentence, the state was asking Murray “to sentence Ed on the manslaughter charge that he was found not guilty of.”
“This was a unique case with a unique set of circumstances,” the attorney said. “I could find no record of another case with a similar set of facts in Maine.”
Davidson said that he needs to consult with Smith before a decision can be made about whether the sentence will be appealed to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
In addition to prison time, Smith faced a fine of up to $5,000 on the drug charge.
If convicted of manslaughter, Smith faced up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000. He faced up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $2,000 on the endangering charge.
BDN writer Tim Cox contributed to this report.