This is a tragic story that has no satisfactory ending all the way around. A 58-year-old nanny in Dallas, Georgia, was arrested after she had a long phone call. During the 45 minutes she was on the phone, the two 5-year-old girls she was charged with babysitting got into the pool in the backyard and both drowned. This is horrible enough, but one of the girls was also her grandchild.

It was the father of one of the girls, who was out with the girl's mother doing errands when the tragedy happened, who looked at phone records and determined that the nanny, Marta Corvi, had been on the phone with a friend at the time the girls drowned.

Corvi has been charged with reckless conduct, which is a misdemeanor. I'd be surprised if she spends any time at all in jail. Should she? While no doubt it is terribly irresponsible to not pay attention to two such young girls while on the phone, surely this was a horrible accident, and the woman is probably feeling awful. Children can move quickly and get into trouble very quickly. She is not the only adult who has made a bad judgment call. Do the parents bear any responsibility for not having a pool cover?

I can't imagine what the parents of the little girls are going through, but I can't imagine what Corvi is going through either. This is just awful in every which way. It's one of those things where the punishment, even if it means no jail time, will be bad enough because two little girls have lost their lives, and two families have been destroyed.

Should Marta Corvi serve jail time?

 

Image via Paulding County Sheriff's Office