Children in Hot Cars: the Tragic Circumstance and Charges that Follow

Every year we hear about parents leaving children in hot cars.  Sometimes the child is found and their life is saved.  Typically in that scenario, the parent or parents are charged with a crime and the kid gets sent to foster care while the parent also faces an investigation and subsequent Dependency, Neglect and Abuse (hereinafter, “DNA”) action, usually initiated by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.  If the child is not found quickly enough, and the child dies, the parent or parents may be charged with a homicide offense.

Today we’re going to take a look at some of the crimes and punishments associated with leaving a child in a hot car.  For those of you who question how relevant this law is to our society, here is a snippet from WLKY:

“Five children have already died in the country this year after being left in a hot vehicle, which includes one infant in Louisville.

It's a scenario that takes an average of 38 lives per year…

On June 18, 8-month-old Lincoln Lindsay died from heat exposure after he was left in a van at his father's work. The infant's body was found hours later at his home in East Louisville.

Two days later, 28-year-old Tabatha Moseley and 22-year-old Joseph Smith were charged with wanton endangerment in Bullitt County after officers found a 15-month-old baby and an 8-year-old girl unattended in a Jeep just outside the Bullitt County Judicial Center.”

Let’s talk about Wanton Endangerment.  Whenever you put someone in danger because of reckless/wanton conduct, that’s the charge the police will use to initiate a case against you.  KRS 508.060 covers WE, 1^st.  It says:

(1) A person is guilty of wanton endangerment in the first degree when, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, he wantonly engages in conduct which creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to another person. 

(2) Wanton endangerment in the first degree is a Class D felony.

Obviously, there is a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury in these sort of scenarios, because children have died, and continue to die every year because of “hot car” incidents.  So if a child does not die, chances are the parent is going to be charged with the above statute.  But what if the worst case scenario happens?  What happens when the child doesn’t make it?

The answer to the above question is, in part: That parent needs a good lawyer.

Because chances are, the parent is going to be charged with murder.  And let’s stop here for a second and talk about mental state.  Generally, when a person is charged with a crime, there will be a mental state requirement associated with the crime (not true with strict liability offenses).  For example, for possession of controlled substances, most of the time you have to be in “knowing” possession of the substance.  If you don’t know the substance is in your possession, you aren’t guilty of possession of that controlled substance.

With that in mind, let’s look at Kentucky’s Murder statute, KRS 507.020.  It reads: 

(1) A person is guilty of murder when: (a) With intent to cause the death of another person, he causes the death of such person or of a third person; except that in any prosecution a person shall not be guilty under this subsection if he acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, the reasonableness of which is to be determined from the viewpoint of a person in the defendant's situation under the circumstances as the defendant believed them to be. However, nothing contained in this section shall constitute a defense to a prosecution for or preclude a conviction of manslaughter in the first degree or any other crime; or

(b) Including, but not limited to, the operation of a motor vehicle under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life, he wantonly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to another person and thereby causes the death of another person.

(2) Murder is a capital offense.

Assuming the parent in question did not intentionally leave a child in a hot car, we are not interested in subsection (1)(a), which deals only with intentional acts.  Intent is described in the traditional “conscious objective" sense, and specifically, is defined in KRS 501.020(1), which says “A person acts “intentionally” with respect to a result or to conduct described by a statute defining an offense when his conscious objective is to cause that result or to engage in that conduct.”

So we have covered Knowing and Intentional conduct.  But under subsection (1)(b) of the Murder statute, someone can also be prosecuted for Murder for Wanton conduct.  Let’s define wanton conduct.  Pursuant to KRS 501.020(3), “A person acts wantonly with respect to a result or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when he is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur or that the circumstance exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that disregard thereof constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation. A person who creates such a risk but is unaware thereof solely by reason of voluntary intoxication also acts wantonly with respect thereto.”

If a jury were to find that a parent left a child in the car in the heat of summer, with the windows up, they could find that the parent consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk, and that the disregard of that risk constituted a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation.

However, the difference between “wanton” conduct and “reckless” conduct is an extremely fine line (so far as mental states are concerned).  And if an attorney were to successfully argue that the conduct in which the parent engaged was “reckless” rather than “wanton,” said attorney may be able to convince a jury to find the parent guilty of the lesser included offense of “Reckless Homicide.”  This would be a big win for the defense in a case like this, because Reckless Homicide carries only a penalty of 1-5 years, rather than the 20-life penalty carried by Murder in Kentucky.

In short, be safe out there.  Leaving a child in a car in the summer can be extremely dangerous. 

If you have been charged with Murder or Wanton Endangerment based on the allegation that you left a child in a vehicle in the summer, you should get a Louisville Homicide Attorney immediately.  Do not give any statements to the police.  Call 502.618.4949 and speak to me, Greg Simms, for a free initial consultation and make sure your Constitutional Rights are protected. 

Simms & Reed, PLLC.  Results.  As fast as the law will allow.


Questions answered in this blog post: What is the crime of leaving a baby in a hot car; what is wanton endangerment; how can I find a good Louisville homicide lawyer; how can I find a good Louisville murder lawyer; how can I find a good Louisville wanton endangerment lawyer; how can I find a good Louisville child abuse charge lawyer; what is the difference between "wanton" and "reckless;" what is the intent required for murder; what is the intent required for wanton endangerment?