Toddler Dies After Forgotten in Hot Car at Day Care


Newman and Wright Photo Source: CBS News
Shelia Newman and April Wright were charged with neglect homicide after a twenty two month old little girl was left in a hot car for two hours and died. According to authorities, the pair was using a van to take 16 kids to lunch around Baton Rouge, and forgot to take the girl out of the car. At the hospital, the girl's body temperature was 108 degrees.

Newman was also charged for obstructing justice because she lied about where the toddler's body was found. She told Wright to lie and say that they found the girl in the backyard and to pour water on the steps to make it look like they cleaned up vomit.
Newman owns a day care, but her license was recently removed because she didn't have enough attendants to care for the amount of children at the day care. Louisiana law requires day cares to be licensed if they care for more than seven children.

Comments from Allen:

Tragic case.  The charges appear to be appropriate.  These ladies will probably spend 2 years in prison, possibly more, and be on parole for some time after that.

While nothing will bring back the child, it should be noted that in many, if not most, cases involving day care operation, there is no insurance covering this loss.  Frequently, children in day care suffer vicious dog bites, injuries caused by neglect, injuries caused by other children, brain stem injuries from shaken baby syndrome, etc.  In many of these cases, the day care is operated out of the operator's home.  If the day care operator does not have specific insurance coverage as part of their homeowner's policy for operating as a day care, any day care-related injuries will not be covered by insurance.   Typical homeowner's insurance policies exclude any payment for injuries resulting from "business pursuits," as opposed to injuries that you might expect to happen to family members not involved in operating a business.  Since Newman's license to operate a day care was revoked, but she chose to operate one illegally, it is probable there was no insurance covering injuries to any child at the day care.

This is a warning to anyone leaving their child at a day care: if the day care is operated out of a home, there is probably no insurance to cover injuries to your child which might occur there.  If the day care is not operated from a home, you might want proof the day care is insured, probably for at least $300,000 or $500,000, before you allow your child to be cared for there.

***********************************************************************************************************************

Allen Browning is an attorney in Idaho Falls, Idaho who handles personal injury and criminal defense. He has over 30 years of experience and handled thousands of cases. Allen work with cases from all over Idaho. Call (208) 542-2700 to set up a free consultation if you are facing legal trouble or you have been involved in an accident.


Also, check out browninglaw.net for more information about Allen and Browning Law.


Allen Browning can help with all personal injury claims including motor vehicle accidents, serious and disabling accidents, and wrongful death claims. Allen Browning can also help with drunk driving (DUI) , Felony, Misdemeanor, Domestic Violence, Drug Crimes, Theft, Juvenile Crimes, Violent Crimes, and Probation/Parole Violations. He is one of the most experienced and successful criminal defense attorneys in Idaho.


Attorney Allen Browning can help with all personal injury claims including motor vehicle accidents, serious and disabling accidents, and wrongful death claims.


Sources for more information:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/day-care-workers-arrested-for-childs-hot-car-death/

http://theadvocate.com/news/12576281-123/baton-rouge-child-found-dead

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

7 Things Lawyers Can't Tell Jurors

Image
 It is a trial lawyer's job to educate jurors, and tell them what they need to know in order to decide cases. Despite this, there are many things, true things, that lawyers are not allowed to tell jurors directly in statements to the jury or indirectly through testimony of their witnesses. Lawyers know these things, though, and I thought you might like to know some of things. #1. A lawyer can't tell the jurors anything that happened during settlement negotiations. He cannot let the jurors know, when asking them to make the defendant pay his client $100,000 that the defendant agreed to pay him $80,000 prior to the trial. The reason for this is that you want settlement negotiations to be very open. You don't want to damage a negotiation session because someone is afraid that what they say will get repeated to a jury if you don't strike a deal. #2 In Idaho, a lawyer can't tell the jurors that the defendant has insurance. In many other states, he can. Bec
Read more

Man Framed by Prosecutor Released After 29 Years in Prison Seeking Lawsuit

Image
19 year old, Charise Kamps, was found raped and strangled to death in her apartment in June 1980. Ralph Armstrong told the police that both of them were at the apartment alone doing cocaine before leaving to go see friends around 9:30 pm. Police said that they learned that Armstrong owed Kamp's boyfriend $400 and witnesses saw Armstrong handing Kamps money that night. However, the money was not found in the apartment, and Armstrong deposited $315 in his bank the next day.The defense argued that he got the money from his brother. One of the neighbors saw a lean, muscular man about 5 feet 5 inches tall with long, dark hair drive up to the apartment. Before the identification process, the police had the witness hypnotized. He was shown a photograph of Armstrong, and After being hypnotized, the witness changed the height of the man he saw. Later at a lineup to have the witness select the man he saw, he chose Armstrong. The other people in the lineup were police officers in wigs
Read more

Tuesday Tip: Reid Interrogation Technique

Image
Various methods have been used in police interrogations to elicit a confession. By far the most popular method used for over seventy years is the Reid Technique. This interrogation method assumes guilty suspects can be identified from certain behavioral cues. It is said to be proven as highly effective at getting confessions; however, there has been criticism about it for many years because it has been linked to many wrongful convictions.  Around 25 percent of post conviction DNA exonerations have been associated with a false confession from authorities using the Reid Technique. Even one of the first cases in which John Reid used this technique turned out to be a false confession. More and more scientists and scholars are saying this approach is based on outdated psychology. There are several components incorporated in this technique, including room design and how the investigator conducts the interview. There are three spatial zones the investigators use, which can be seen in
Read more