Father Arrested After 3-Year-Old Son Died of Cocaine Overdose: What Should His Punishment Be?

On Thursday May 15, Thomas Everett Holland was arrested after details of his son’s untimely death were discovered. He now faces first-degree manslaughter charges in the death of his three-year-old son, Jayson Maurice Holland.

According to WJLA, police records and court documentation stated that an autopsy and toxicology report revealed that the 3-year-old boy died from a lethal dose of a toxic concoction that consisted of cocaine, acetaminophen, and codeine. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled the child’s death as a homicide. Holland was taken into custody shortly after the ruling was filed.

Although the child died back in January, its taken this long for charges to be brought against Holland. He reportedly rushed his son to the United Medical Center in Washington, D.C. after he claimed to have found him in the living room unresponsive.

A death investigation began shortly after the child was pronounced dead, as authorities were already questioning Holland’s involvement. However, there was still the possibility of the incident being an accident. Now the results of the toxicology reports only place Holland in a more incriminating position.

Given the toxic amounts he ingested, police are led to believe that the child’s death was definitely not an accident. Lt. William Alexander of Prince George’s County Police Department released a statement about the reports.

“Those results are showing there was such a concentration of [the] four drugs that our detectives and medical examiners believe there is no chance this child could have accidentally ingested them,” Alexander said.

“Investigators now believe this could not have been an accident — there was no way a three-year-old child could ingest that amount of acetaminophen and cocaine,” said PGPD spokesperson, Julie Parker.

Holland has been charged with first-degree child abuse and manslaughter. He is currently being in custody at the Department of Corrections.

Image(s) via Prince George’s County Police, Bing