Dad charged for hot car death

Every once in a while some accident provokes some national outrage. Here is the latest.

The Atlanta paper reports:

The mother of the 22-month-old who died after being left inside an SUV told Cobb County police she also researched children dying in hot vehicles, according to new court documents released Sunday morning.

“Leanna Harris, the child’s mother, was also questioned regarding the incident and made similar statements regarding researching in car deaths and how it occurs,” search warrant affidavits obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution state. ...

Cooper’s death and his father’s subsequent arrest quickly made national headlines, sparked by a sharply divided debate over whether the felony charges were appropriate. Support for Ross Harris, including an online petition to the Cobb County District Attorney, has shifted in recent days as new facts in the case have been reported. The online petition was halted Wednesday after more than 11,000 people had signed in support of charges being dropped in the case.

The boy’s father told police he had searched online for information regarding temperatures needed for children to die inside vehicles because he was “fearful” it could happen, according to search warrant affidavits released Saturday.

Additional affidavits released Sunday state that Leanna Harris made similar statements. Police seized several electronics from the SUV and the couple’s Marietta-area condo, including an iPhone, iPad, a desktop computer, two laptops and a Google Chromecast digital media player, the warrants state.

This is a little fishy, but which is more probable -- an accident or an intentional murder?

Millions of parents drop kids off in day care every day. If one in a million forgets, then that would be some forgotten kids every day.

Millions of parents are concerned about hot cars, and many of them probably google the idea to get an assessment of the risk.

Or did these parents conspire to murder their own kid by cooking him in a car? I have never heard of anything like that ever happening.

Sometimes one parent kills a kid in a mad rage. It is very rare for a parent to kill a child at all.

Accidents happen. Unless the cops have a lot more evidence, they should let it go. I do not agree with criminalizing accidents.

I also would not criminalize stupidity, such as with this Florida mom:

In a case likely to kick up — yet again – the debate over parental responsibility regarding how children are fed, a Florida mother was arrested Tuesday for child neglect and her newborn was admitted to the hospital in a crisis that started over vegan beliefs.

Local news station WESH reports that Sarah Anne Markham’s pediatrician alerted authorities after the woman’s 12-day-old baby appeared dehydrated during a doctor visit. The doctor said that Markham refused the medical advice to admit the child to the hospital or take the medicine offered, on the grounds that “it contained ingredients that came from animals.” After police were summoned to her home, Markham reportedly told them that she’d purchased organic soy formula for the baby, and that “she wanted to pursue a religion-based treatment and she had contacted a ‘natural’ or vegan doctor, but police said she did not share any proof of this to them.” Police added that “They asked Markham if the product was confirmed with a doctor that it was safe to give the newborn, and she replied saying that since it was organic, it must be OK.” The baby remains in protective custody.

Yes, the baby could have died, but what can you do? In this California beach town where I live, half the women babble this sort of nonsense.

Update: Ross Harris has now appeared in court, and the cops have evidence that he was sexting with women other than his wife, while his kid was cooking in the car. He also used profanity against the cops. This may show bad character, but I don't see how it is evidence of murder. A murderer would be likely to know that his cell phone would be seized, and try to keep it clean.