FORT SMITH : Parents found guilty
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008
FORT SMITH — A Fort Smith couple was convicted of misdemeanor negligent homicide Monday in the death of their 22-month-old daughter who was left in a hot car for three hours.
After the day-long trial before a Sebastian County Circuit Court jury, Circuit Judge James O. Cox followed the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Mirna Luz Marin, 31, and Jose Erubiel Marin-Mendez, 23, to six months in prison and fined them $ 1, 000 each.
Marin-Mendez has been held in the Sebastian County jail since his arrest Sept. 23 on a Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold for being an illegal alien.
It wasn’t clear Monday whether Cox gave Marin-Mendez credit on the sentence or the fine for the time he has spent in jail.
It also was unclear Monday whether Mirna Marin would begin to serve her sentence immediately.
The pair were charged in the death of 22-month-old Estrella Marin, but attorneys for the parents said her death was a tragic accident, not a crime.
The deputy prosecuting attorney, Stacey Slaughter, told the jury of nine women and three men in her opening statement that the Marins took an unresponsive Estrella to Sparks Regional Medical Center on Sept. 22. Doctors there contacted police after examining the baby.
Dr. Adam Craig of the Arkansas State Medical Examin- ers office determined Estrella died of hyperthermia, or an overly heated body, Slaughter said. Fort Smith police Detective Joe Barnes testified the outdoor temperature that day was in the mid-80 s.
Attorneys told jurors that the Marins and their four children went to church that morning and then to a church dinner.
On returning to their home at 1907 Waco St. about 2 p. m., they all got out of their SUV and started to go into the house. The Marins’ 5-year-old daughter, Bianca, had been fussing all day and threw a tantrum when the family arrived home.
Mirna Marin’s attorney, David Dunagin of Fort Smith, said in his opening statement that Bianca’s tantrum distracted the children’s mother.
He also said there was never any accusation that drugs or alcohol were involved or that the couple intended to leave Estrella in the hot car.
“Our position is this is not a crime but a horrible accident,” Dunagin said.
Sebastian County Public Defender John Joplin, who represented Jose Marin-Mendez, added that family members did not go into the house at the same time.
Neither parent was sure the other retrieved Estrella, who was strapped into a car seat in the back seat, he said.
In closing statements, Slaughter said each parent was responsible for Estrella’s safety. “If one didn’t know, the other should have,” she told jurors. “It takes two.” Attorneys said that Mirna Marin and Jose Marin-Mendez took a nap until about 5 p.m. when Mirna Marin awoke and began looking for Estrella. When she went to the SUV, she found Estrella in the car seat. The three other children, ages 12, 10 and 5, were turned over to relatives.
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