Kids' Death in Hot Cars is a Curse for Parents

By MINERVA CANTO

Local News Columnist/B1

The Orange County Register

This is how I imagine the autopsy report for 5-month- old Jasmine Dunton will read when coroner's officials release it in a few weeks:

Place of death: Parked auto

Manner: Accident

You might've heard the story of how the Anaheim baby died. Her dad forgot her in his car for several hours as he worked, accidentally leaving the infant to die in a virtual oven.

A couple weeks ago, the Orange County District Attorney's Office announced that Jasmine's father won't be prosecuted.

For many of us, forgetting a baby in a car seems inconceivable, an act that should be punished by a criminal conviction and some time behind bars, just long enough to make other parents pay closer attention to their children.

But prosecutor Scott Simmons says the law is very clear when it comes to these types of cases.

"You have to have criminal negligence," says Simmons, an Orange County deputy district attorney.

And forgetting does not meet the test of criminal negligence in most of these cases.

Had Jasmine's father knowingly left her in the car while he ran into a store for a quick errand, he might've faced criminal prosecution. But he didn't. John Michael Dunton simply forgot his baby in the car while he went to work.

That means the punishment for his absentmindedness is that he will forever have to live with the guilt and knowledge that his actions led to his baby's death. His life and his marriage have undoubtedly changed in ways that we'll never know.

That's a pretty tough sentence for any parent to have to live with, especially if the parent is usually a loving, responsible caretaker, which by all accounts, Dunton appeared to be.

But is this punishment enough?

In Virginia, a judge presiding over a similar case decided it wasn't.

Kevin C. Kelly, whose 21-month-old daughter died after being left in a hot van, was sentenced to spend one day a year in jail for seven years. During sentencing in February 2003, the judge also ordered that Kelly organize an annual blood drive in his daughter's name and perform community service two hours a week.

The jury that convicted Kelly of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment recommended a 12-month jail sentence.

Afterward, Kelly told a Washington Post reporter that he was grateful the judge allowed him to stay with his family.

Not grateful enough it seems.

After two appeals in Virginia's higher courts, Kelly filed an appeal of his conviction with the U.S. Supreme Court last month. In his petition, Kelly complains that his case has unfairly set a new "legal standard" for parental liability. Attorney Edwin Vieira Jr., who's handling Kelly's appeal, says a jury of "12 morons" unfairly convicted Kelly because Kelly didn't know the baby was still in the car as he went about his errands.

Odds are, the U.S. Supreme Court won't hear the case since it receives so many appeals.

Odds are, another child will die, accidentally trapped in a hot car, before we know the outcome of the Kelly case.

So far this year, at least 30 other children nationwide have died after being left inside broiling cars, Simmons says.

Each year, more and more children die this way, according to Tammy Russell of the nonprofit 4 R Kids Sake, which tracks these cases.

Russell's 6-month-old daughter died when her baby sitter left her in a hot car. The baby sitter was sentenced to 90 days in jail.

Now, Russell spends her days trying to prevent similar deaths, pressing for stricter legislation and for car manufacturers to install devices in cars to help parents and other caretakers remember if a child is still in the car.

Though Russell calls these devices "a safety net to aid when all else fails," I wonder whether these devices will be another excuse for parents to absolve themselves of responsibility for their child.

A pattern emerges in news reports of these cases of children who died after accidentally being left in cars. Many cases involved working parents who forgot to drop off their babies with baby sitters, leaving the children strapped in the back seat for hours.

Even after determining that Dunton could not be held legally liable for his baby's death, Orange County prosecutors were left with one key question:

How does someone forget a baby in the car?

After all, it's not like forgetting the car keys in the ignition.

To gain more perspective, I went to talk to parents outside a Babies 'R' Us store in Tustin. Two stay-at-home mothers told me that Dunton and parents like him should never have become parents if they weren't ready for the responsibility. Three working parents were sympathetic, saying they knew too well the demands on their time and the emotional devastation they were sure would follow if they were ever to make a mistake that cost them their children's lives.

Numerous studies point to how overworked and sleep-deprived many of us are. And with kids to take care of, the added responsibilities multiply the stress level.

Working parents simply have a lot of things on their minds. Bills that need to be paid. A deadline at work. Or a health problem.

Even so, isn't a baby a parent's No. 1 responsibility?