CA - Michael Warschauer, 10 mos, dies in hot car, Irvine, 8 Aug 2003

Beyond Belief

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Two hot cars. Two dead infants. Two grieving fathers.
Two very different outcomes.
College professor Mark Warschauer says he simply forgot his 10-month-old son Mikey was in the car. Horse groom Antonio Balta claims he didn't know the car would get hot enough to harm his 9-month-old daughter, Veronika.
Neither man meant to harm his child. But that doesn't always matter in the eyes of the law.
---
A baby lay lifeless on a stretcher, a car window shattered nearby, paramedics swarming.
How sad, Mark Warschauer thought. Then he realized it was his car.
It was Mikey.
If there was ever a miracle baby, Michael Kai Warschauer was it.
For five years, Warschauer and his wife, Keiko Hirata, struggled with infertility. They had undergone in-vitro fertilization, only to see more than a dozen embryos fail.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FL_LEFT_TO_DIE_TWO_FATHERS_FLOL-?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US
 
The saddest thing about both stories they were 100% prevenatable.
 
Neither is condonable, but they are different cases: 1 left the child by mistake... the other purposefully left the child in the car... yeah, I can see why one was punished and the other not.
 
Neither is condonable, but they are different cases: 1 left the child by mistake... the other purposefully left the child in the car... yeah, I can see why one was punished and the other not.

Both made legally negligent decisions that inadvertantly resulted in their child's death; but I find the difference between not being charged at all and being sent to prison for 20 years outrageous and unjust.
 
I hope I don't get jumped on for this..but it's just my opinion. After reading about these two stories, I agree with everything but sentencing the father of Veronika to 20 years. It was not with intent to harm her..the article did say he was borderline "retarded"

I just..I don't know...these father's guilt and pain will punish them throughout their lives. Yes, Veronika's father did leave her intentionally, but I honestly believe he didn't know it might be harmful. He only cracked the windows because he was worried about her being taken. I doubt he ever thought about the heat in the car building up.

Some might say that a lower intelligence is not an excuse..but the people that have lower levels of intelligence really don't think about things the way someone with a higher IQ might. I think Veronika's father could benefit from social service classes, etc. I don't know. There are many cases where I do feel like the parent should be charged/convicted...but some...it's a tough call.
 
I hope I don't get jumped on for this..but it's just my opinion. After reading about these two stories, I agree with everything but sentencing the father of Veronika to 20 years. It was not with intent to harm her..the article did say he was borderline "retarded"

I just..I don't know...these father's guilt and pain will punish them throughout their lives. Yes, Veronika's father did leave her intentionally, but I honestly believe he didn't know it might be harmful. He only cracked the windows because he was worried about her being taken. I doubt he ever thought about the heat in the car building up.

Some might say that a lower intelligence is not an excuse..but the people that have lower levels of intelligence really don't think about things the way someone with a higher IQ might. I think Veronika's father could benefit from social service classes, etc. I don't know. There are many cases where I do feel like the parent should be charged/convicted...but some...it's a tough call.

Great Post, Truthful Lies, and you won't get jumped by me. With what I know about these two cases, I don't think either man should have gotten anything worse than probation. Their punishment is built into their mistake.
 
sorry i cant seem to gather much pity for the man who left a baby in the car to go gamble. i'm sure he didnt mean to lose track of time while he was betting on the ponies and kill the kid but i wasted all my pity on the dead child.
 
ya i dont understand how anyone can forget thier child in the car or where they are at all . my kids are always on my mind so i dont forget them . ive never known anyone that forgot .
 
sorry i cant seem to gather much pity for the man who left a baby in the car to go gamble. i'm sure he didnt mean to lose track of time while he was betting on the ponies and kill the kid but i wasted all my pity on the dead child.

My bad, sherri. I just re-read the article. I thought it said he "worked" at the stables and was keeping his daughter there while he worked. Totally missed the "stopping off at the betting windows and getting wrapped up in the races" part.

This does indeed shed new light on his sentence in my mind! Thanks for pointing that out.
 
My bad, sherri. I just re-read the article. I thought it said he "worked" at the stables and was keeping his daughter there while he worked. Totally missed the "stopping off at the betting windows and getting wrapped up in the races" part.

This does indeed shed new light on his sentence in my mind! Thanks for pointing that out.
i was wondering what was going on. we have never agreed on parents that forget their kids but i figured on this issue we would be closer. probation for some1 who forgets their child i can understand. to leave your child to go gamble should amount to hard jail time imo. we also need to remember this is from 2 states. in florida we tend to take a punish attitude more often than cali. we have a couple kids here die each summer. half are forgoten babies and half are parents that know the child is there but dont want to lug the baby around while they shop/gamble/score drugs/get a quicky.....
 
i was wondering what was going on. we have never agreed on parents that forget their kids but i figured on this issue we would be closer. probation for some1 who forgets their child i can understand. to leave your child to go gamble should amount to hard jail time imo. we also need to remember this is from 2 states. in florida we tend to take a punish attitude more often than cali. we have a couple kids here die each summer. half are forgoten babies and half are parents that know the child is there but dont want to lug the baby around while they shop/gamble/score drugs/get a quicky.....

Yes, we are closer on this one to be sure!

I also feel more leniency is in order for a parent who forgets a child in a car and a parent who leaves a child in a car on purpose. I will say, I was swayed by the second parent's lower IQ, but you are right - the gambling thing is a killer.

We get these cases regularly in GA to. Always heartbreaking.
 

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