Thanks for the explanations of life insurance for kids.
Everything about this turns my stomach, but for some reason, this chills me to the bone. I wish the both of them would be welded into a hot car in the middle of Nevada during August and have people that love them, come by to point and laugh as they die.
She also asked him if had “said too much” to the police.
I’ll be totally compliant next time! 
Fuck that! We don’t want them, dead or alive.
My wife and I had a third child some years after our first two. One evening in early September, about two weeks after daddy’s little bonus came along, we went out to a small pizza place. The usual four of us piled out of the car and all of us closed our doors. I took about two steps away from the car and then realized little #3 had been left behind. She probably was locked in the car by herself for about five seconds, but I can see how one could forget.
That frightened us into greater awareness and we never forgot again. She’s now working at a great summer job before her last semester of graduate school.
That’s like the time I wrote about upthread, when we forgot to fasten the boychik’s 5-point strap on his carseat when he was about 5 months old. “[F]rightened us into greater awareness” is a good way to put it. I hope I’m not being lumped in with those people who claim that they would never do such a thing. I had a routine for putting my son in his seat after strap incident, and my husband and I had a rule that the person who carried him out of the house did the whole carseat routine-- we didn’t hand him off so a step wouldn’t get skipped. I don’t think any of that made us superior. It was done in all humility and in recognition of how easy it was to make a mistake.
I don’t actually know that any of those things got our son to his 7th birthday, or were just little lucky charms that made us feel better. I wish I’d thought of that rubber band thing.
One thing that may have helped us was the fact that we had two cars, one with working AC, and one without. If you had the baby, you had the car with AC (it was also newer and safer). So the fact that you were driving the “baby car” may have helped remember the baby.
We also never had set routines, because I was a SAHM for the boychik’s first year, so neither of us was ever in the position in which this frequently happens-- adding a baby to an automatic routine.
We were just lucky that we had circumstances not conducive to leaving the baby in the car, and a little jolt once to remind us to be extra careful. Lucky, not uber-parents.
Justin Harris indicted by a grand jury on eight counts: malice murder, two counts of felony murder, first-degree cruelty to children, second-degree cruelty to children, criminal attempt to commit a felony (sexual exploitation of a minor) and two counts of dissemination of harmful material to minors. Decision whether or not to seek the death penalty for the Georgia baby botherer is expected by the end of the month.
Stomach-turning all over again.
And now with added pedophilia!
“Baby botherer”? that sounds like when I annoy my son by repeating everything he says.
Man, what a tragic topic. From what I’ve read, this is usually the same kind of forgetfulness that leads one to misplace their wallet, or leave their keys in the car, just with catastrophic consequences.
And I feel really bad for these folks. Unlike many, I’m incredibly careful about my things like wallet, keys, glasses, etc., and panic in the moments when I think they’re misplaced (like when I shift my wallet to my front pocket for some reason). But even as careful as I am, I still sometimes misplace my things (very rarely – like once every year or two). Even a careful and loving parent might, just once, forget that their sleeping baby is in the backseat.
Except this guy didn’t just forget. He killed his kid.
I’m just commenting on the topic in general, not any specific cases.
The problem is this could also happen to a careful and loving caregiver, nanny, babysitter, family friend, etc., (especially an overworked nanny or caregiver), but few people have sympathy for them. Instead, American society and a good many Dopers would be clamoring for them to be charged with murder or manslaughter at the least. There shouldn’t be a difference just because its the parents.
The difference is that if it was not deliberate, then there is already a degree of punishment for the parent, who has lost their child. Additional punishment might not provide any greater degree of justice. This is not the case for the caregiver or nanny, who is more likely to be seen as getting away with no punishment at all if there is no judicial punishment.
How well do you know this case? Yes, he was found guilty. I have followed the case in great depth and believe that Harris was convicted because he is a slimeball (sexting underage girls; liaisons with prostitutes) rather than there was convincing evidence that he deliberately killed his son.
The guy is a hooker visiting, teen sexting, pedophile sleazeball. We agree on that. He also YouTube’d a video about hot car deaths. He saw the distress that it causes and still inflict d it on his child. He visited his car with his dying or nearly dead child inside at least once and claims he didn’t remember. I don’t buy it and neither does the jury.
And really, I’m pretty sure I could make the mistake of leaving a sleeping baby in a car. I understand how it can happen and I feel so much sorrow for the people involved. Just not in these really damning circumstances.
I know it well enough.
I read the news.
Are you saying he was innocent? Because that’s not the way the story reads to me. His car smelled of death and he drove for miles before pulling over. Fuck that.