No criminal charges to be filed in suffocation death of 12-year-old boy at North Carolina wilderness camp

No criminal charges to be filed in suffocation death of 12-year-old boy at North Carolina wilderness camp

No criminal charges will be filed over the death of a 12-year-old boy who suffocated at a North Carolina wilderness camp after staff mandated he stay overnight in a fully enclosed sleeping sack, the local district attorney announced on Wednesday. The 12-year-old suffocated during his first night at the camp last February while being required to occupy a small, one-person sleeping enclosure, according to the medical examiner’s autopsy report, which ruled his death a homicide. An investigation found the boy’s death “did not involve criminal intent or recklessness sufficient to warrant criminal charges for involuntary manslaughter under the law,” said Andrew Murray, district attorney for Transylvania, Henderson and Polk counties. Murray said his office will not pursue criminal charges against Trails Carolina, the program for adolescents with behavioral or emotional issues where the boy died, citing the “high threshold” that must be met when considering charges of involuntary manslaughter. “While we are deeply saddened by this tragedy, we must follow the law and make decisions based on the evidence and our legal standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” Murray wrote in a statement. The child’s family, who live in New York, has asked CNN not to publicize the his name. They did not wish to make any type of statement regarding the district attorney’s decision, a representative said.