Charge reduced for mother accused of letting baby smoke marijuana
A mother at the center of a social media firestorm over a video of a baby smoking marijuana received a lesser charge Thursday during a first appearance in a Wake County courtroom.
Brianna Ashanti Loftin of Raleigh could have spent more than 30 years behind bars if convicted of aiding her 1-year-old to smoke a marijuana blunt and posting it on social media late last year.
But a Wake prosecutor, during Loftin's first appearance, agreed to charge the 20-year-old Raleigh woman under a lesser felony that could result in her facing 17 years behind bars.
Caroline Elliot, an attorney with the Wake County Public Defender's Office who is representing Lofton, called the original felony charges "an error."
Police charged Lofton, of the 4700 block of Caldera Lane, on Wednesday with two felony counts of intentional child abuse-serious bodily injury, two misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile and one misdemeanor charge of simple possession of marijuana, according to arrest warrants.
Lofton was transported to the Wake County Detention Center and placed under a $100,000 bond. Her baby was placed with Wake County Child Protective Services.
In two videos posted on Facebook, an adult's hand is shown holding a brown cigar or cigarette to a child's mouth. The child is seen exhaling smoke in both videos. Raleigh police warrants said Lofton was accused of "causing, encouraging and aiding a one-year-old child to smoke a marijuana blunt" and intentionally injuring the baby with the "inhalation of marijuana," on Dec. 1, 2017.
Raleigh residents and others began posting the video and comments on the Raleigh police Facebook page just after 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Raleigh police Lt. Jason Hodge said, "We welcome and encourage any assistance the public is willing to give us at all times."
Lofton, outfitted in a gray and white-striped jail jumpsuit, appeared stunned when she walked into the courtroom Thursday afternoon flanked by Elliot, her attorney.
Lofton could spend up to 120 days in jail for each of the three misdemeanor offenses that she's been charged with.
A Wake prosecutor told presiding district court judge Craig Croom that Lofton's bail should be doubled to $200,000, pointing out that the accused mom is currently on probation following a July, 2017 conviction for driving while consuming.
The prosecutor also told the judge that Lofton has pending charges while on probation, including simple assault in August, driving while license revoked in October and possession of marijuana in November.
Elliot asked Croom to lower Lofton's bail to $50,000, emphasizing her age and that she's enrolled in a program to earn a general education diploma. Elliot told Croom that Lofton was "not attempting to get her child back at this point."
Croom ordered Loftin's bail to remain at $100,000 and told her to have no contact with her baby.
The child, now 16 months old, is in the custody of Wake County Child Protective Services.
Loftin's mother and grandmother, along with several other family members attended the court hearing.
They declined to comment.
Thomasi McDonald: 919-829-4533, @thomcdonald
This story was originally published March 22, 2018 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Charge reduced for mother accused of letting baby smoke marijuana."