Students' laxative-spiked cake sends Brooklyn teachers to hospital

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

Can someone please legally justify why someone could get charged with up to 7 years in prison for pulling a classic prank?

I haven't read the statutes at issue, but they are probably intended to target a whole host of bad conduct (e.g., spiking a girl's drink with the date-rape drug, putting poison in a spouse's food or drink, etc.). My guess is the statute doesn't say something like, "Any person who mixes narcotics, poisons or other harmful substances into another person's food or beverages without the other person's permission shall be guilty of a Class C Felony; provided, however, that any person who mixes laxatives in a teacher's food or drink as part of a prank shall be guilty of an ordinance violation." Few statutes can be written with such precision that they (a) contemplate every possible scenario and (b) always accurately differentiate relatively harmless from very harmful conduct.