Friday, July 4, 2014

There is A Hole in Our Legal Structure. Children Murdered By Being Left In in Hot Cars

About 4 or 5 years ago, a woman working as a school administrator (probably still) in the Cincinnati area left her young son in a car on a hot summer day as she parked her car then tended to her [likely nothing] duties as school administrator. (What Do those folks do anyway?)  She parked at the school, young son in back, went to her station, went back to the car to get the donuts she 'forgot', then back into the school all the while forgetting about the young man in her vehicle.  (Doesn't it seem that forgetting the donuts was a ruse to the effect that "If I forgot the donuts it's not hard to extrapolate that I'd also forgot my son in the vehicle?"  It does to me.)  Plus this woman didn't need any donuts either.

The young man dies of heat exposure.  The prosecutor stated he would take her to trial if he would have had any premise to do so, but the woman was very distraught, and there was nothing to use to take the woman to trial.  

Maybe it was an accident in her case, as unnatural as forgetting your child is in the car as that would be to most of us.  This was a few years ago, and I remember thinking and saying to my workmates that "Well, here is a way parents can legally murder their children".
This latest case where the father and mother both googled children dying in hot cars prior to the event is different.  There is more evidence of premeditation in their case from a few angles.
 
I read today that 44 children have died as the result of being left in cars in hot weather in 2013.

Let's cut to the chase. Parents can face legal consequence for spanking their child.  Correct? Yes.

Why is there no consequence for a parent(s) causing a child's death through whatever means?

There needs to be a consequence for parents killing their children by leaving them in hot cars and in other ways as well.  If you can't prove intent, then it's manslaughter, otherwise it is homicide with the appropriate sentences given.

What do you think?




18 comments :

  1. MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia man who police say intentionally killed his toddler son by leaving the boy inside a hot SUV was exchanging nude photos with women the day his son died and had looked at websites that advocated against having children, a detective testified Thursday.

    Cobb County Police Detective Phil Stoddard testified at a hearing that evidence showed Justin Ross Harris was practically leading a double life and should not be granted bond. Stoddard described the evidence he said suggests Harris, who is charged with murder, killed his 22-month-old son Cooper intentionally.

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    Looks like only Teabags get charged. More hypocrisy?

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    1. You might be taken more seriously if you dropped your fascination with homo tea bagging. Pick the short hairs out of your grin pal.

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  2. Ducky, what are you talking about? Man, you are warped.

    Kid, I just simply can't imagine leaving a small child in a car and not remembering they're there. While I don't believe all these parents over the years wanted dead children, this case is something very different and very curious. Absolutely, throw the book at him (and the wife? Who checks on that subject on the internet!?). That child deserves to have justice.

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    1. My bad, I forget that the fringe right is sarcasm challenged,

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  3. OK-
    I agree- the da and ma are murders-
    forgetting your child in your car- REALLY!!
    C-CS

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    1. Carol-CS, I can't possibly imagine how it could happen. It would seem if you're that level of forgetful, you'd have some sort of backup plan to make sure This didn't happen. Put one of your shoes in the backseat..

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  4. It's murder. Call it "passive murder," but it's still murder.

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  5. This sort of thing has been going on for a very long time now. During World War II, when women began working in defense industries helping to produce everything from aircraft to tanks, it was a common practice for these working women to either leave their children in their cars while they worked their shift, or drop them off at the local cinema where, for about ten cents, the children could be entertained for eight or so hours. This is when movie theaters started showing matinees, but often opened their doors at nine o’clock in the morning. America suddenly had a spike in juvenile delinquency, and no one could understand why.

    Yes, children died in their mothers’ parked cars, too —and mothers sobbed, buried their children, and then went back to whatever they were doing with their lives previously. Many were having the time of their lives while their husbands were fighting overseas —and having more babies in the process. It wasn’t just a baby boomer generation; it was also a love-child generation.

    It would be a leap in logic to imagine that FDR intended for this “breakdown” in the American family structure, but that’s what happened —and it seems to remain with us today. What do we really know about becoming parents ourselves except from that we learned from our own parents? Sadly, fewer and fewer of us every year are blessed with good modeling from our parents. Soon, we’ll become a nation of ducks .... a society with no redeeming value whatsoever and America can mindlessly find its way to a Marxist utopia where everything is free, where nothing is ever our fault, where there are never any consequences, and nothing ever really matters.

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    1. I did not know the history of WWII when women started working outside the home- and children being left in cars or in theaters-thank you -Mustang-
      C-CS

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    2. Mustang, I didn't know about the kids. I would have guessed they'd be with grandparents or guardian of some kind. Hard times...

      Anyway, yes, it takes a village to make a communist.

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  6. Perhaps Ms Shaw would consider a more equitable approach, besides self flagellation for the sins of slavery, would be to impose a tax on anyone considered to be a racist or plans to be one sometime in the future. I am quite sure that there are plenty of trustworthy progressive leaders who would be more than happy to do our thinking to prevent us from the very thought itself.

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  7. In my experience I have had to help my teacher wife in getting a couple of gallons of coffee, and several dozen doughnuts to help in her setting up for a PTA party before her work hours.. Teachers don't stop and buy doughnuts for the fun of it. They do it because their bosses are having a meeting, and this task is delegated to another busy person. I can see that if a kid were in the car they could be forgotten, especially if one's routine is interrupted, and you have to run errands for your boss and still arrive at work on time.

    I think the guy in Marietta is probably guilty. He just looks like a jerk. Hmmm... How does he get the girls names?

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    1. Bob, I can also buy that some people are absent minded enough, and under the gun enough. I have not come to a conclusion, but I'm very suspect about this woman here. School administrators do very little here. A case in point is when the financial crisis finally had some effect on public union people, a local podunk school district (Lakota) had to let 90 administrators and 100 teachers go, and call it good.

      What ? 90 administrators ??? 100 teachers ??? Similarly, a podunk fire station let 90 'firefighters' go, leaving 13 and calling it good.

      I have little sympathy for public union positions based on these live events. Tho that is not 100% conclusive in all situations, I'm going to have to ask (rhetorically from the specific locale) for proof that these people were mission critical.

      Bottom line., who knows guilt of this woman, it's why we have courts. But these people don't even show up in court, unless they're as dumb as these two latest murderers.

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  8. If it isn't murder, it's manslaughter; if not manslaughter (element of danger recklessly ignored), it's criminal negligent homicide; if not criminal negligence (failure to recognize a danger that a reasonable person would perceive), it's reckless endangerment. There's a whole bunch of charges to throw at this kind of outrageous conduct.

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    1. Thanks for the expert analysis Sig. Yes, that's what I'm sayin. The prosecutor here,when the school admin person did it, said if there was any way he would charge her he would have. A plea for the ability to charge these people imo.

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