Q&A Friday #73: Should This Woman Be In Jail?

Question: So about this story:

“UNION TWP. – Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby won’t be charged in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Cecilia Slaby, who was left in a car for eight hours amid searing heat Aug. 23, the Clermont County prosecutor said Tuesday.

Nesselroad-Slaby, 40, forgot that she had left the sleeping girl strapped in a child seat of a sport utility vehicle at Glen Este Middle School, where she is the assistant principal.

All evidence indicated that Nesselroad-Slaby didn’t intend to leave Cecilia in the car, Prosecutor Don White said.”

Should this woman be charged?” — maledicta

Answer: On general principle, I think she should be charged with manslaughter, but it’s hard to get too upset with the prosecutor’s decision.

After all, it’s not as if other mothers around the country will look at this woman and say, “Ha! She didn’t even get manslaughter charges. Now, I can leave the baby in a hot car as often as I want and not worry about punishment!”

Moreover, this lady will have to live with the fact that she killed her own child with her absent minded, careless behavior. That’s no small thing.

So again, I would hit her with manslaughter charges, but I’m not very upset that the prosecutor chose not to go down that road.

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