Arabic version: محكمة استئناف في فلوريدا تلغي إدانة بجناية قتل بسبب وفاة طفل في سيارة حارة

According to The Guardian, Florida’s first district court of appeal reversed Rhonda Jewell’s convictions for third-degree felony murder and leaving a child unattended in a vehicle. The court found both charges required proof that Jewell knowingly left 10-month-old Ariya Paige in her car.

Jewell, 46, had been babysitting four children from two families in July 2023 when she forgot Ariya was in the back seat and went inside to care for the other children. Ariya, strapped into a carseat during Florida summer heat, died of hyperthermia before Jewell realized the mistake.

Jewell was convicted the following year and sentenced to 17 years in prison. Her felony murder charge was based on the underlying offense of leaving a child unattended in a vehicle. Jurors were told they did not need to find that she intended to commit that underlying offense, or knew it was occurring, to convict her of third-degree felony murder.

The appeals court wrote that “Third-degree felony murder cannot be based on an unenumerated predicate felony that does not require any proof of intent.” It ordered the case returned to trial court for a new trial, adding that the case showed the difficulty of the criminal justice system in adjudicating an accidental death.

Christine Monta of the MacArthur Justice Center, one of Jewell’s appellate lawyers, said the ruling recognized that tragic accidents are not equivalent to murder. More than 650 children in the US have died after being accidentally left in hot cars since 1990, according to Kids and Car Safety.