I also had some sympathy for the mother but the latest on the story is that this was not the first time she left her daughter in the car. It happened at least three times before the fatal time.
Here's an article about that.
Assistant Principal Left Toddler In Car Previously
UPDATED: 6:58 pm EDT September 5, 2007
BATAVIA, Ohio -- A police report indicates that Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby left her 2-year-old daughter alone in a car on previous occasions prior to the girl's death.
A police report showed the Symmes Township woman had left Cecilia Slaby in a car on at least three occasions, including an incident when she was left unattended for 10 minutes two days prior to the girl's death.
Tara Phillips, a teacher at Compass School in Mason, told police that Nesslroad-Slaby asked her 5-year-old daughter to hurry up during an Aug. 21 visit to the school because "the baby was in the car."
Phillips told police that the older girl asked to stay and watch part of a play she was participating in, and both she and her mother stayed inside the building for 10 more minutes.
"Mom didn't go to check on the baby," investigators said in their report.
Police said school officials had cautioned the Slaby family about leaving their children alone inside vehicles after parents alerted them to the situation.
Her attorney has said Nesselroad-Slaby became distracted from her normal routine of dropping Cecilia at a babysitter's house because she stopped to buy doughnuts for a faculty meeting, then forgot about the girl when she unloaded the doughnuts from the back of the vehicle.
Surveillance cameras show that Nesselroad-Slaby returned to the SUV five times during the day, and once moved the SUV to another location in the parking lot.
The babysitter told investigators that she did not call to ask about the girl because her father, Gary Slaby, sometimes kept the child at home without notifying her.
The police report indicates that investigators pushed for a child endangering charge, but Clermont County Prosecutor Don While said Tuesday that he would not prosecute Nesselroad-Slaby in the girl's death.
White told News 5 on Wednesday that the investigation had revealed unsettling information, but he said they were not criminal.
"The facts would never support reckless conduct under the law," White said. "We researched every case we could find, and cases are reversed every day by courts of appeals."
White said his office could have filed charges and secured a conviction by appealing to juror emotions, which he said would have certainly been overturned on appeal.
Unbelievable!
It’s not a crime to leave a child in the car for a few minutes. At least it shouldn’t be. It’s sure easier than taking a toddler out of his car seat and putting him back in just to run a 2 minute errand.