I believe she should also die

Mom charged in pedophile slaying case
Associated Press

BALTIMORE - The mother of a slain boy was charged with reckless endangerment Thursday because she had allowed the suspected killer and convicted sex offender to care for her 11-year-old son, prosecutors said.

The investigation reflects the "ongoing concern for protecting vulnerable children who are at risk of injury and abuse at the hands of child predators and complicit caretakers," said prosecutor Julie Drake.

Authorities said Shanda Harris knew her friend, Melvin Jones, was a convicted sex offender but allowed him to care for her son, Irvin.

Jones, 52, was charged in July with first-degree murder for the stabbing death of boy, whose body was found on a golf course near his home.

Jones pleaded guilty in 2002 to having sex with a teenage boy and was sentenced to serve one year in prison, prosecutors said. He also pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse in 1989, and was convicted of indecent exposure in 1994, harassment in 1989 and battery in 1988.