The death of Shelby Allen in December 2008 was truly a tragedy. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of misinformation about what happened that night and questions about the appropriateness of filing charges against Shelby’s friend Kayli. Now that the court has ruled on the case, I can discuss the matter in the hopes that other teen lives can be saved.
The key facts are that Shelby and her friend Alyssa were guests at Kayli’s home. When Shelby and Alyssa arrived around 12:50 a.m., they had not had any alcohol to drink nor did they bring any alcohol to the home. All the girls were warned not to drink alcohol by Kayli’s father. Yet, once all the adults, including college aged siblings went to bed, Kayli, Alyssa, and Shelby began drinking alcohol. Through Shelby’s cell phone text messaging of the events that night, we know she intended to drink 15 shots of alcohol. We know that all the alcohol drunk that night came from Kayli’s home and, in fact, additional vodka had to be retrieved from a freezer in another room. Shelby reached her 15 shot goal by 1:58 a.m.- about a 1 hour period of time. Neither Alyssa nor Kayli drank anywhere near this amount although each drank some alcohol.
At 2:02 a.m. Shelby sent her last text. Shelby and Alyssa both began to vomit. As the least intoxicated, Kayli took steps to ease their discomfort. Eventually, Alyssa was taken upstairs to Kayli’s room to “sleep it off”. Alyssa’s condition appeared to be a common reaction to drinking too much alcohol. However, Shelby’s condition was far different. Shelby’s vomiting was so violent that she suffered a lacerated lip from striking the toilet seat. Eventually, Shelby became non-responsive. Kayli propped Shelby’s head over the toilet seat and tended to her.
Beginning at around 2:30 a.m., Kayli began calling and texting a male friend about Shelby’s condition using Shelby’s cell phone. For several hours Kayli remained with Shelby and text messaged a friend asking for him to come over and help with Shelby, but didn’t want him to tell his parents. It was decided that he would not come over. The final text message to this friend from Kayli occurred shortly after 5:00 a.m. although Kayli checked on Shelby as late at 5:50 a.m.
Between 7:15 a.m. and 8 a.m., Kayli’s father was leaving for work. Kayli briefly mentioned that Shelby was “not feeling well”, but did not tell her father the extent of Shelby’s condition. Also at about that time, Alyssa woke up and was told by Kayli that Shelby was fine and breathing. However, at around 9:00, Alyssa checked for herself and immediately noticed that Shelby had not moved since Alyssa went to bed several hours earlier and was not breathing. Alyssa immediately contacted one of the college siblings. That sibling noted Shelby was not breathing, but had a pulse. She immediately contacted the father who noted the same condition and contacted 911 at 9:04 a.m. When Sheriff’s deputies arrived at 9:13 a.m. they also noted Shelby was still alive with a weak pulse. Paramedics unsuccessfully treated Shelby and she was declared dead shortly thereafter. In addition to the lacerated lip, Shelby suffered a very clear marking around the front portion of her neck caused by her head lying inside the toilet seat for so long without movement. Her blood alcohol level was .33.
Clearly, Shelby made the choice to drink to excess that night. Unfortunately, the consequence for that choice was her life. However, Kayli also made choices that night. She hosted an illegal alcohol party for her friends and she provided all the alcohol consumed that night. Once Shelby became completely incapacitated, albeit of her own doing, she could not help herself. She was at the mercy of her friend to get her help- help that was only a few steps away where several adults were sleeping. Kayli stayed with Shelby and checked on Shelby for several hours through the night and early morning, but failed to tell an adult. In the morning, Alyssa acted as most would upon seeing Shelby’s distressed condition- she contacted an adult. Only her actions were too late. When you provide a location for your friend to use an illegal substance, supply the illegal substance to excess, and your friend becomes so incapacitated because of that substance that your friend is helpless, you should take responsibility to get help. No one is suggesting that Kayli should have performed CPR or surgery. Just tell an adult. Her failure to seek help was the basis of the charges against her. I respect the court’s ruling that these particular facts fell short of the legal standard for involuntary manslaughter.
Some might say that she was too young to be prosecuted. We have a juvenile court for those under 18 who commit crimes and this is where the case was filed – not adult court. Whereas adult court focuses on jail and punishment, juvenile court focuses on rehabilitation of the minor. Consequently, the hope was to provide court-supervised services and specifically tailored consequences that assure that she would learn from her mistakes and gain knowledge about the dangers of alcohol use and abuse. The goal was not to punish or destroy a future, but to give her and other teens like her a chance at a future – a future, sadly, Shelby no longer has.
Gerald Benito has been the district attorney in Shasta County since 2003.
