12:00 AM CST on Wednesday, December 3, 2008
By DEBRA DENNIS / The Dallas Morning News
debdennis@dallasnews.com

One of two men videotaped last year giving pot to young children accepted a plea deal Tuesday and was sentenced to seven years in prison – saving himself from a possible life sentence.

Vanswan Polty, 20, of Fort Worth pleaded guilty to two counts of injury to a child causing bodily harm and three counts of burglary of a habitation.

Mr. Polty took the plea bargain just as jury selection for his trial on a charge of engaging in criminal activity got under way. He had faced a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on that charge, which was in connection with the burglaries.

He was to face two charges of injury to a child – for giving a marijuana cigar to 2- and 4-year-old brothers – at a later time, prosecutors said.

Fort Worth attorney Tim White said his client agreed to the plea bargain after renewed news accounts showing the video of his client coaxing the boys to smoke the cigar.

"He went from looking at two to 20 to five to 99 or possibly life," Mr. White said. "It was in his best interest to take the plea."

Investigators said Mr. Polty was a teen in early 2007 when he and a friend, Demetris McCoy, urged the youngsters to smoke marijuana at Mr. McCoy's Watauga home. Mr. Polty and Mr. McCoy, the boys' uncle, came to the attention of police who were investigating a string of residential burglaries in Watauga, Fort Worth and Blue Mound.

The videotape was uncovered during that investigation. In addition to prompting the boys to smoke the drug-laden cigar, Mr. Polty and Mr. McCoy could also be seen and heard on the tape laughing and calling the tots "potheads."

A third teenager videotaped the incident and was charged as a juvenile. His case was handled in juvenile court, officials said.

At the time of the incident, the boys' mother, Shatorria Russell, was asleep in a nearby room. Ms. Russell has since tested positive for drugs and relinquished custody of her boys, a CPS official said. The children are in foster care and will be placed for adoption.

The telling video was featured on YouTube and played on "every media outlet on the planet," Mr. White said.

Mr. Polty will receive credit for the nearly two years he has been locked up at the Tarrant County Jail. He will serve five more years unless he's released early from prison, Mr. White said.

Mr. McCoy, of Watauga, pleaded guilty in July to injury to a child. He was sentenced to eight years in prison and had agreed to testify against his friend, prosecutors said.

"My client was left holding the bag," Mr. White said. "I felt like he couldn't get a fair trial with that tape."

Darrell Dávila, a Tarrant County assistant district attorney, said that he was satisfied with Mr. Polty's plea bargain and sentence and that it was essentially the same deal offered to Mr. McCoy.

"They were both on the tape giving marijuana to both toddlers," Mr. Dávila said. "In all cases, we consider one's background, involvement in the instant case and other pending cases. That same analysis was applied here."

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Emphasis added by H4K Editor