DAILY ITEM (Sunbury, Pennsylvania) 13 December 06 Suspect: Plea bargain likely in snake case (Marcia Moore)
Shamokin: Terry L. Jackson said she regrets using five venomous snakes in an Oct. 25 standoff with police, not because she was bitten three times and fell into a coma, but due to bad publicity the reptiles are getting as a result.
"I don't want people to be afraid of snakes," the 36-year-old said. "It was not in my head whatsoever to hurt anyone."
She showed up alone at District Judge John Gembic III's courtroom Tuesday to appear at a preliminary hearing on two counts of recklessly endangering another person and disorderly conduct.
Represented by public defender Michael Romance, Mrs. Jackson waived her right to the hearing and said she expects to reach a deal with the commonwealth, which will allow her to plead no contest to one count of reckless endangerment in exchange for the withdrawal of the two other charges.
A hearing in the Northumberland County Court of Common Pleas is scheduled for March 5.
The details that led Mrs. Jackson to court are a bit hazy, she said, but were a result of depression and alcoholism.
Shamokin police officers were called to her 419 S. Market St. home at 4:20 a.m. Oct. 25 when her husband, Darrell, was unable to enter the locked house where Mrs. Jackson was threatening to kill herself.
Once they gained entry, police found Mrs. Jackson holding a 10-inch hunting knife.
She said she wasn't taking medication for the depression she was diagnosed with more than five years ago and that night she was morose over the recent loss of two of her four children to foster care and a failing relationship with her husband.
Just three weeks earlier, Mrs. Jackson said, she was released from rehabilitation and had not had a drink in weeks until that evening, when she consumed a six-pack of beer.
When police arrived at her house, she knew from a previous experience they were coming to take her to the hospital.
That's when she began picking up five venomous rattlesnakes and copperhead snakes she's owned for two years as a small venom-milking business.
"I knew they wouldn't come near me with the snakes," Mrs. Jackson said, denying she was trying to harm the police.
She ended up holding all five snakes in her right hand while keeping a firm grip on the knife in her left hand.
"I'd brought them all up as babies. I was used to handling them," she said.
Her experience didn't protect her, though, and Mrs. Jackson was bitten twice on the hand and once on the face.
Police eventually got the situation under control by using a Taser gun on Mrs. Jackson.
At Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, she suffered an allergic reaction to the anti-venom and fell into a coma for six days. She remained in critical condition for several days and was released from the hospital on Nov. 9.
Mrs. Jackson said when she got out of the hospital she had no place to stay and her other animals, including several non-venomous snakes, a parrot and alligator, were taken in by a friend. She closed the exotic pet shop she'd operated for just a few months in Shamokin.
The five venomous snakes were taken by police as evidence and later turned over to the Hershey zoo.
"I was glad they were donated to the zoo and not put down," Mrs. Jackson said.
Today, she and her husband are living in a Selinsgrove motel. She continues to work, is in counseling and regularly attends AA meetings.
Mrs. Jackson, who suffered one previous bite from a venomous snake about a year ago, said physicians warned her that one more bite could be fatal.
She's taking the advice to heart, and despite her lifelong love of reptiles, will not be breeding or caring for venomous snakes anymore.
"I'm not getting back in the business. I won't take the chance," she said. "I was lucky this time. I still have all my fingers, but they're numb."
While she struggles to get back on her feet, Mrs. Jackson has been a bit surprised by her notoriety.
While attending a recent Children and Youth hearing in Northumberland County Court, she was approached by well-wishers who shook her hand and requested autographs, she said.
She obliged them, signing the notes "Snake Lady."
Plea bargain likely in snake case

[ Show Entire Thread ]