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North Carolina dad Sameule Jenkins is due back in court this month on charges stemming from the downstream impact of his arrest after the tragic death of his son.

Jenkins and his wife, Jessica, let their 10- and 7-year-old sons walk a few blocks to and from the grocery store in Gastonia, North Carolina, last spring. Sameule Jenkins stayed on his phone with his 10-year-old the whole way to ensure they were safe. The last words he heard were, "Legend, no!"

His 7-year-old son, Legend, ran into the road and was hit by a car. He died that night.

Legend's parents were thrown in jail and charged with involuntary manslaughter and child neglect, with bail set at $1.5 million each. They were still behind bars as their son was about to be laid to rest.

Gastonia city councilwoman Cheryl Littlejohn heard of their case and got a judge to let them out just before the casket was closed. The funeral was over by the time they arrived, but Sameule Jenkins says, "We got to kiss our son goodbye." Then they were taken back to jail.

The couple spent three weeks behind bars before being offered a deal to plead guilty to felony child neglect and be released on parole (two and a half years for Jessica Jenkins, three years for Sameule Jenkins). The deal included mandatory parenting classes, twice-a-month drug tests for both of them, and a 6 p.m. curfew and ankle monitor for Sameule Jenkins.

Three weeks after his son's death, Sameule Jenkins tested positive for cocaine and marijuana. "I was just trying to cope -- to feel numb," he says. "But since then, I have not failed a drug test."

Sameule Jenkins is now living in Charlotte, North Carolina, in an Oxford House, where men pledge to sobriety. He is no longer allowed to live with his wife because he was not on the lease with her, and once his case came to light, she received a letter saying he had to leave or she and the children would be evicted.

Sameule Jenkins was also accused of removing his ankle monitor and ignoring law enforcement calls. As the monitor was still on his leg when police arrived to arrest him, the charge was updated to a violation of failing to keep the monitor charged and tampering with the strap. He spent eight days in jail and was given a second monitor to wear on his other ankle.

There is no reason a grieving father should be forced to wear a monitor in the first place. The charges led to the plea bargain, which led to the drug tests and ankle monitors -- as if Sameule Jenkins might commit a crime again if not closely watched.

But his "crime" wasn't a crime at all. The authorities are treating a tragedy as a felony.

Until he had his first child, Sameule Jenkins says, "I was doing dumb stuff. It was a lifestyle of just being in the streets." But once he became a dad, "I gave it all up," he says. For the past three years, he has worked refurbishing wooden pallets.

It's a job he hopes to do again, but he knows his record might make employers leery. He also lived with his wife and kids. Now the kids are being cared for by relatives as part of an agreement with the Department of Social Services. The couple is allowed supervised visits.

Legend's death was heartbreaking. But if we criminalize all rational parenting actions that end in tragedy, we'd have to imprison any parent whose child died from climbing a tree, or falling down the stairs, or choking on a button. Those things happen but not because of bad parenting.

They happen because of bad luck.

And bad luck is not against the law.

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Lenore Skenazy is president of Let Grow, a contributing writer at Reason.com, and author of "Has the World Gone Skenazy?" To learn more about Lenore Skenazy (Lskenazy@yahoo.com) and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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