“The closest charge that might be applicable is involuntary manslaughter … and the closest felony is endangering children, where parents create a substantial risk,” he said Wednesday during a press conference to explain his decision. “However, in both of these, the mental state of a parent must be reckless.”
“Recklessness is more than a mistake, even if it’s a deadly mistake,” Fornshell said. “And there’s no evidence that she acted with heedless indifference.”
Evidence mother Karen Osorio-Martinez knew Sofia was in the car would have met the heedless indifference standard, Fornshell said.
Osorio-Martinez and her husband still must live with the realization that her negligence caused the toddler’s death from hyperthermia, Fornshell added.
“There’s nothing any law is going to do more than they are going to punish themselves for the rest of their lives,” he said.
MORE: ‘She was adorable’: Neighbor recalls Mason baby left in mom’s hot car
Osorio-Martinez left their Mason home with Sofia, intending to drop her at day care, but forgot and drove to work at the corporate complex on Mason-Montgomery Road, arriving about 7:30 a.m.
Leaving work, she was walking to the car when her husband, Henrique Aveiro, called to alert her that Sofia was not at day care when he went to pick her up. The mother realized their only child had been left strapped into her car seat.
Osorio-Martinez called 911 about 5 p.m., and the child was pronounced dead after emergency workers arrived.
RELATED: Butler County nurse invents iPhone app to prevent hot-car deaths
Prosecutors found her actions failed to meet the legal standard for involuntary manslaughter or child endangering.
Both charges required more than negligence, Fornshell said.
"There is no doubt Sofia's mother made a horrible mistake," Fornshell said." We found no evidence that the mother acted with heedless indifference."
Fornshell said he talked with the parents on Wednesday morning and detected a “mild amount of relief.”
Osorio-Martinez, a native of Puerto Rico, was also upset having lost contact with family as hurricanes pummeled the island.
“This was something that was weighing heavily on her,” Fornshell said.
“They are extraordinarily emotional,” he added.
The parents could not be reached for comment, but P&G issued a brief statement.
RELATED: Federal law change could mandate warning systems to prevent hot car deaths
“We are continuing to support the family through this difficult time. We do not have additional information to share,” Tressie Rose of P&G Company Communications said via email. “We also do not have a statement from the family to pass along.”
Neither P&G nor Fornshell elaborated on his comments that the parents planned to work with the company to prevent other babies from dying in hot cars.
Police conducted an investigation, seizing her cell phone and car, as well as a shopping bag and purse-style bag to check for “any medications or illegal narcotics that could show an altered mental state of Karen Osorio-Martinez.”
On Wednesday, Fornshell said they also watched more than eight hours of surveillance video from the parking lot.
A search warrant affidavit filed by Mason police indicated Osorio-Martinez left Sofia inside her 2011 Nissan Cube for about nine hours. The rear-facing car seat was located in the back of the vehicle behind the driver’s seat, according to court records.
EARLY REPORT: Mason mother was running late in child’s hot car death
“Upon speaking with Ms. Osorio-Martinez, she advised that she was running late to work and usually drops Sofia off at daycare. It was also determined that Sofia’s father, Aveiro, attempted to pick up Sofia up at daycare and was advised she was not there, so he contacted his wife as she was leaving work,” the affidavit said.
On Wednesday, Fornshell said Osorio-Martinez wasn’t actually late, but was later than usual, after letting her daughter sleep in and working from home before heading toward the day care center.
MORE: Mason child left in vehicle for more than 10 hours
Fornshell said he sided with Ohio lawmakers who had considered toughening the law, but left the reckless disregard standard.
He questioned if Ohioans wanted to “criminalize negligence.”
Fornshell said most parents have been guilty of negligence on occasion, sometimes resulting in harm to their kids.
“Are we going to criminalize every time a child gets hurt?” he concluded.
New vehicles would be outfitted with a warning system to help prevent children from dying in hot cars under legislation passed with bipartisan support this month in the U.S. House.
If the bill becomes law, drivers turning off their cars would be reminded by an alarm to check the back seat for children. Thirty-nine children died of heat stroke, and one died of hypothermia, in cars in the U.S. last year, according to KidsAndCars.org, a group that tracks such deaths.
About the Author
