Arizona girl, 2, left in car by father on 109-degree day and is found dead

[MsMarple]

Those poor kids! Subjected to being imprisoned in the car so dad can play his video games in peace and perhaps have a few drinks too.

They finally had an opportunity to tell an adult what was happening in the home but apparently the one person who should have listened - the judge - chose to be swayed instead by mother’s pleas to bring dad home.

Perhaps for now they won’t have to sit in a hot car but if dad gets a cushy plea deal what guarantees that he won’t go back to his old behavior? And there’s still the issue of his drinking.

Mom and dad instructed the kids to say dad is a good dad, essentially telling them that they deserved to be put in the car at the whim of their father. At their young ages did no one consider that the children may internalize those actions to mean it’s all their fault their sister died? That they failed to save her?

There is so much wrong in the handling of this case IMO. If the judge isn’t taking the Grand Jury’s indictment seriously then what’s the point?
All MOO

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

Similarities to circumstances in a family we knew well.

Beautiful brilliant daughter, engaged to young attorney. Suddenly breaks engagement, decides to go to medical school.Suddenly there is a jobless young man with a sad story on the scene, totally supportive of her goal. Just as she is about to move across country and start Med school, she finds out she is pregnant. No problem, as he has no job, her family is paying the bills, so he will be home with baby, she will get her MD. Happily ever after.

To make this short, she excelled, winning honors. He became bored and resentful in a passive aggressive way. He turned to online gambling and ran up a huge debt. The second time she found the toddler, locked in a separate room while he gambled, that was the END.

My guess is this guy kept the kids in the car to keep them ‘contained’…like he was off duty and wouldn’t be disturbed. I would guess that boredom and resentment factors in as well.

Agree re: use of the car to contain. Re: above, is there a particular case you are referring to? I have to confess that I am lost.

Also agree re: bored, resentful and passive aggressive, JMOOO. Even the body language with hands in pockets at hearing seemed to have that same vibe to me. MOOO. Minimizing the legal consequences for him may also be about protecting ES, legally and re: her earning capacity, time may tell, IMHO, that has to be a huge factor. She has school debt and young kids and a n'er do well husband who seems to have little earning capacity/career and expensive legal woes. The way he was "staged" at the hearing was SO different, I confess at first I did not recognize him and thought he was one of his legal counsel. JMOO.

 

[airportwoman]

Oh, I don’t know about indefinitely. I wouldn’t be surprised if he suddenly feels like working again once his oldest turns 18.

That doesn't make delinquent child support go away.

 

[eishish]

Exactly my thoughts. Which shows possibly a issue with him, among the sad, sad many others. Wld not be able to even look at him. Sns

 

[stmarysmead]

Agree re: use of the car to contain. Re: above, is there a particular case you are referring to? I have to confess that I am lost.

Also agree re: bored, resentful and passive aggressive, JMOOO. Even the body language with hands in pockets at hearing seemed to have that same vibe to me. MOOO. Minimizing the legal consequences for him may also be about protecting ES, legally and re: her earning capacity, time may tell, IMHO, that has to be a huge factor. She has school debt and young kids and a n'er do well husband who seems to have little earning capacity/career and expensive legal woes. The way he was "staged" at the hearing was SO different, I confess at first I did not recognize him and thought he was one of his legal counsel. JMOO.

No, the reference was to close friend’s situation.

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

That doesn't make delinquent child support go away.

It's possible a deal was struck to get him to relinquish custody of a child suicidal and desperate to escape the Scholtes' home and return to mom. The ongoing FC support proceedings seemed to end around then.

Shame that Parker is not alive and he is not making it up to his motherless teen and lovingly caring for his tiny grandchild. In theory he should owe back and ongoing support but this week has shown that "should" does not always carry the day in court. JMOOO.

 

[eishish]

ES cannot tolerate the publicity of a trial. It would threaten to expose her lack of action to prevent the abuse and would threaten her career.

A plea is obvious and I think she will move the family to a different city, possibly even a different state.

If ES couldn't stand the "loss" of him for the older children, wouldn't it be even more disruptive to have to take them to prison to visit him there? Because of this, I expect a vigorous fight to keep him out of prison. An expensive vigorous fight and an expectation that he will remain with the family. I would have to think he could not be allowed to be responsible for child care, at a minimum.

Probably that would suit him just fine.

Yikes, do it to keep a murderer out of prison!! and as far as her in the medical field with her integrity definately in question, horrifying. Moo

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

No, the reference was to close friend’s situation.

Ah, thanks. Sorry for your friend. A few of mine have ended up with immature men who seem to see them as a meal ticket and who never grow out of the teen gaming stage. It is scary to see up close, when even kids are not the trigger to mature. JMOOO.

Glad your friend was able to walk away. I sometimes wonder if there is untreated ADHD or other executive function and regulation issue when middle aged people are gamers, gamblers, etc. It's like dopamine chasing becomes a sub for any semblance of adult life.

CS seemed willing and ready to throw ES under the bus "she does it too" - whether his claims have any truth or not, she may have perceived that as a threat to her legally, re: reputation, etc., or maybe it's all an emotional tie to him, doesn't really matter, she still does not seem willing to put the needs and safety of the kids over him imho.

Shame how only minutes of the day of her death were focused on Parker or her sisters, right back to the self focus "I, I, I" and "Sorry" texts and she was enmeshed and then focused on what he wanted, spun as what was BEST for kids. She presents and speaks well but I would not want either Scholtes to be my parent or a caregiver for traumatized kids. JMOOO.

A LOT of effort and $ re: appearance was spent to "rebrand" him visually at arraignment, after she had used words to do so at bond hearing. The teen had an early and later childhood away from the chaos and lack of safety, hope for the best for the littler girls. MOOO.

 

[MsMarple]

Maddening as it is there’s a strong possibility that CS is going to claim he forgot Parker was still in the car. IMO irrelevant to his behavior that day but possibly very relevant to a defense attorney.

In an article linked below a defense attorney not involved in the case implied that:

“Careless or not, extremely careless, this is a thing that happens. People do forget that a kid is in the back of the car,” Fidel said.

This sentiment echos what the guest defense attorney said on the Nancy Grace podcast (linked upthread), that regardless of the father’s initial intent he could have legitimately forgotten that Parker was still in the car.

No matter that he lied about the timeline, all that seems to matter is that he became distracted. It infuriates me to no end but so far I don’t see a judge who views any of the dad’s behavior that day as anything willful.

The original theory of Forgotten Baby Syndrome was based primarily on cases where a distracted parent faced with a change in routine forgot to drop their child off at daycare. Since then it’s expanded to encompass any caregiver being distracted by anything. For example look up Jayde Poole.

If a lawyer can convince a jury CS did forget about Parker he could be found not guilty in all charges.

Realistically though it’s likely he’ll take a plea of neglectful homicide which carries a sentence of a mandatory 1 year up to 3.75 years as noted here earlier. Could the judge bypass that sentence and instead put him on probation? I don’t know but I bet she or he can.
All MOO

Arizona father pleads not guilty in daughter’s hot car death

A Marana man pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and child abuse charges after he left his toddler in a hot car last month.

www.azfamily.com

 

[Herat]

Maddening as it is there’s a strong possibility that CS is going to claim he forgot Parker was still in the car. IMO irrelevant to his behavior that day but possibly very relevant to a defense attorney.

In an article linked below a defense attorney not involved in the case implied that:

“Careless or not, extremely careless, this is a thing that happens. People do forget that a kid is in the back of the car,” Fidel said.

This sentiment echos what the guest defense attorney said on the Nancy Grace podcast (linked upthread), that regardless of the father’s initial intent he could have legitimately forgotten that Parker was still in the car.

No matter that he lied about the timeline, all that seems to matter is that he became distracted. It infuriates me to no end but so far I don’t see a judge who views any of the dad’s behavior that day as anything willful.

The original theory of Forgotten Baby Syndrome was based primarily on cases where a distracted parent faced with a change in routine forgot to drop their child off at daycare. Since then it’s expanded to encompass any caregiver being distracted by anything. For example look up Jayde Poole.

If a lawyer can convince a jury CS did forget about Parker he could be found not guilty in all charges.

Realistically though it’s likely he’ll take a plea of neglectful homicide which carries a sentence of a mandatory 1 year up to 3.75 years as noted here earlier. Could the judge bypass that sentence and instead put him on probation? I don’t know but I bet she or he can.
All MOO

Arizona father pleads not guilty in daughter’s hot car death

A Marana man pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and child abuse charges after he left his toddler in a hot car last month.

www.azfamily.com

This is how I am afraid this is going to go down.

Everyone buries their conscience for the sake of appearances and the ability to become the tragic, sympathetic parents when it is blatantly obvious there was life-threatening neglect by both parents.

Disgusting.

 

[airportwoman]

Ah, thanks. Sorry for your friend. A few of mine have ended up with immature men who seem to see them as a meal ticket and who never grow out of the teen gaming stage. It is scary to see up close, when even kids are not the trigger to mature. JMOOO.

Glad your friend was able to walk away. I sometimes wonder if there is untreated ADHD or other executive function and regulation issue when middle aged people are gamers, gamblers, etc. It's like dopamine chasing becomes a sub for any semblance of adult life.

When people develop addictive behavior, they stay that age emotionally until they get clean.