BY KYM LIEBLER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON -- The mother and grandmother of a Franklin teen-ager have been indicted in connection with his death after he drank 16 beers and took two sedatives in three hours, Warren County Prosecutor Tim Oliver said Monday.
Joseph D. Blair, 17, died Feb. 14 of "acute propoxyphene and ethanol intoxication," according to his death certificate, signed by a Montgomery County deputy coroner.
The teen's mother, Kathy Jean Smith, 36, of 233 Cedar St., was indicted Friday by a Warren County grand jury on one count of endangering a child. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison.
His grandmother, Kathy Smith, 49, of 239 Cedar St., was indicted on one count each of involuntary manslaughter, endangering a child and corrupting another with drugs. If she is convicted of all charges, she could spend up to 23 years in prison.
Franklin police said the mother and grandmother gave the teen 12 beers beginning just after midnight on Feb. 14. The mother and grandmother and another person were drinking with the boy at the 233 Cedar St. address, Mr. Oliver said.
After the teen drank the dozen beers, he and his grandmother walked to her house, where authorities say she gave him four more beers and two Darvocet prescription pills.
The boy went to sleep at 3 a.m., Mr. Oliver said. "Sometime after 8 a.m., the grandma was unable to wake him," Mr. Oliver said. "Paramedics and the life squad were called and he was pronounced DOA" at Southview Hospital in Dayton.
Chester Kirby, a neighbor who repeatedly called Franklin police to complain about the Smiths, said the teen had been drinking for years. "There's only one word to describe them, and it's bad," Mr. Kirby said. "She'd (the younger Kathy Smith) bring in a 12-pack or a case of beer every single night."
The women have not been arrested. They are to be arraigned May 29 in Warren County Common Pleas Court.
