GUILTY NY - Phoenix & Luna Rodriguez, 1, twins, die in hot car, Bronx, 26 July 2019 *No jail*

i don't buy this

the smell,it must have been noticeable after 8 hours........ he must have looked in rearview mirror....did they have extra mirror to view baby seats

did he not think of them during the day and get that jolt as he remembered?
did his wife not text? ask how drop off went? discuss day to day stuff which could jolt his memory?

bystanders....nobody saw or heard anything......where did he exactly park?
There was expert testimony in the Harris case that there wouldn’t necessarily be a smell present when the child had only been deceased a few hours. (Which I find hard to believe.)

There was also a witness in the Harris case who testified he examined the vehicle several hours after Cooper had been removed, and a smell remained even then. (Which seems far more likely to me.)

The expert’s argument is that children’s bodies don’t contain as much of the bacteria that causes the gases related to decomposition and therefore the child wouldn’t have decomposed much in just a few hours.

My argument as a parent is, have you ever left a dirty diaper in a hot car for several hours?! Even one with only urine in it? You smell that immediately when you open the car. So even if you didn’t smell a decomposing body when you open the door, you’re going to smell their soiled diapers.

There has been more than one of these parents that have gotten in the car and traveled some distance before discovering the child in the back, though, so maybe there really isn’t a bad smell.

Considering there were TWO babies dead in his car for hours - and I’m betting they had been deceased for at least 4 hours before he got in the car - I find it extremely hard to believe there wasn’t a noticeable smell.

My disclaimer once again: I do actually believe it’s possible to forget a child in the car and I believe some of these cases are tragic accidents. I’m skeptical that this is one of those cases, however.
 
Well it was clear to the jurors who convicted him. I think the evidence was super strong. They watched him go to his car at lunch and look into the back seat. Two jurors looked at each other and nodded during a requested playback of that moment, right when they saw him glance into the back seat.
It's clear that the jury felt that the State proved it's case.

I wouldn't disagree with that.

It doesn't mean I personally agree with that jury.
 
The 4 yr. old he dropped off at daycare would have been too young to be in the front seat wouldn't he? Is he was sitting on a booster seat in the back how could the father not see the twins while getting his son out of the car?
 
I don't see how anyone can forget a child is in the car whether it's one minute or 10.

I'm don't recall the Harris case details as being the same as you are describing. I'm not sure that's it's a fact that Ross looked in the back of the car at lunch.



Looking up hot car deaths doesn't make you a killer. Coopers mom Leanna looked up car deaths and she wasn't accused of anything.

Having affairs doesn't mean you are a killer. It does make you a bad person in the eyes of a juror. That helps greatly with getting a conviction for the State.

I'm sure the State is looking at Rodriguez in depth. If they can find anything that will make a jury feel he was concentrating on something other than the children that day they will use it to convict him of the crimes they have charged him with and possibly other more serious charges. JMO


Timeline of toddler’s death
Harris went to his car at lunchtime but seemed to intentionally keep his head above the vehicle while he casually tossed a bag of light bulbs into the front seat.

Harris wasn’t convicted because he was having affairs. He was convicted the affairs indicated he didn’t want the responsibility of a wife and child, and many, many, many of his behaviors and text messages backed that up, which supported the idea that he intentionally killed Cooper so he wouldn’t have that responsibility any longer. Divorce is a lot easier when there aren’t children involved.
 
"We were talking about how pretty [Ray Ray] looked that day and how her teacher would be so excited to see her," Reeves said. "She just moved to the 1-year-old caterpillar class. It was tropical day, the class theme. She was wearing the dress her teacher gave her for her birthday."

Amidst the couple's conversation, Reeves pulled into a restaurant parking lot. She said she had noticed how quiet her husband became when they began talking about their daughter.

"I didn't even get the car turned off and he said, 'Just go back to the office. Please go back to the office immediately.'" Reeves recalled. "I thought he had forgotten something and I said, 'OK, whatever.' I turned the car around got to the red light and he said, 'Run the light.'"

"I asked him, 'What's going on?' and then he told me: 'I can't remember dropping Ray Ray at day care this morning.'"

'Forgotten Baby Syndrome': A Parent’s Nightmare of Hot Car Death

This is so well written, so heart-breaking. Thank you for posting it (and for the stats on the rear seat carseats...it's so obvious now that you brought it up).
 
There was expert testimony in the Harris case that there wouldn’t necessarily be a smell present when the child had only been deceased a few hours. (Which I find hard to believe.)

There was also a witness in the Harris case who testified he examined the vehicle several hours after Cooper had been removed, and a smell remained even then. (Which seems far more likely to me.)

The expert’s argument is that children’s bodies don’t contain as much of the bacteria that causes the gases related to decomposition and therefore the child wouldn’t have decomposed much in just a few hours.

My argument as a parent is, have you ever left a dirty diaper in a hot car for several hours?! Even one with only urine in it? You smell that immediately when you open the car. So even if you didn’t smell a decomposing body when you open the door, you’re going to smell their soiled diapers.

There has been more than one of these parents that have gotten in the car and traveled some distance before discovering the child in the back, though, so maybe there really isn’t a bad smell.

Considering there were TWO babies dead in his car for hours - and I’m betting they had been deceased for at least 4 hours before he got in the car - I find it extremely hard to believe there wasn’t a noticeable smell.

My disclaimer once again: I do actually believe it’s possible to forget a child in the car and I believe some of these cases are tragic accidents. I’m skeptical that this is one of those cases, however.
In regards to this case are you saying that Rodriguez should have smelled something strong as soon as he opened the door to the car and immediately found the children instead of driving away for a short distance?
 
Harris went to his car at lunchtime but seemed to intentionally keep his head above the vehicle while he casually tossed a bag of light bulbs into the front seat.

Harris wasn’t convicted because he was having affairs. He was convicted the affairs indicated he didn’t want the responsibility of a wife and child, and many, many, many of his behaviors and text messages backed that up, which supported the idea that he intentionally killed Cooper so he wouldn’t have that responsibility any longer. Divorce is a lot easier when there aren’t children involved.
I disagree that Harris intentionally held his head above the vehicle.

His actions beyond what happened the day of Coopers death was used by the State to convict him.

That could happen in this case also and I'm sure that LE is looking into that possibility. JMO
 
I don't see how anyone can forget a child is in the car whether it's one minute or 10.

I'm don't recall the Harris case details as being the same as you are describing. I'm not sure that's it's a fact that Ross looked in the back of the car at lunch.



Looking up hot car deaths doesn't make you a killer. Coopers mom Leanna looked up car deaths and she wasn't accused of anything.

Having affairs doesn't mean you are a killer. It does make you a bad person in the eyes of a juror. That helps greatly with getting a conviction for the State.

I'm sure the State is looking at Rodriguez in depth. If they can find anything that will make a jury feel he was concentrating on something other than the children that day they will use it to convict him of the crimes they have charged him with and possibly other more serious charges. JMO


Timeline of toddler’s death

1. She was accused and investigated. But there wasn't enough proof. LE questioned her and made statements that her demeanor was off.

2. The jury found he looked in the back seat.

3. I never said an affair made someone guilty. Neither did the jury. But his statements about his life and his son to his various paramours were telling. I'm not sure why people take apart one aspect of a case to conclude the case isn't strong. Pretty much no case is determined by examining only one piece of evidence. It's virtually always a puzzle with various pieces that cannot be examined in a vacuum.

4. If looking up hot car deaths a couple of weeks before your own child is left in the car by you is not strong circumstantial evidence that a person is guilty of the premeditated murder of their child when they left their child in the car to bake, then I don't know what is. Especially when he claims e made those searches because "I was concerned that something like this could happen". And then after putting a clearly awake child in his car and forgetting to make the turn to daycare less than a minute later, his kid dies in a hot car despite his "concern" and research?

Nah. There was a ton of evidence in that case.
 
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There was expert testimony in the Harris case that there wouldn’t necessarily be a smell present when the child had only been deceased a few hours. (Which I find hard to believe.)

There was also a witness in the Harris case who testified he examined the vehicle several hours after Cooper had been removed, and a smell remained even then. (Which seems far more likely to me.)

The expert’s argument is that children’s bodies don’t contain as much of the bacteria that causes the gases related to decomposition and therefore the child wouldn’t have decomposed much in just a few hours.

My argument as a parent is, have you ever left a dirty diaper in a hot car for several hours?! Even one with only urine in it? You smell that immediately when you open the car. So even if you didn’t smell a decomposing body when you open the door, you’re going to smell their soiled diapers.

There has been more than one of these parents that have gotten in the car and traveled some distance before discovering the child in the back, though, so maybe there really isn’t a bad smell.

Considering there were TWO babies dead in his car for hours - and I’m betting they had been deceased for at least 4 hours before he got in the car - I find it extremely hard to believe there wasn’t a noticeable smell.

My disclaimer once again: I do actually believe it’s possible to forget a child in the car and I believe some of these cases are tragic accidents. I’m skeptical that this is one of those cases, however.

Urine is even worse than poop.
 
I don't think Cooper's case should be compared to cases like this. One doesn't have to purposefully leave a child in a car, to commit a crime or be charged with one. One does have to purposefully leave a child in the car to be charged with what RH was. It's apples to oranges. This dude probably didn't premeditate this, so of course he's not going to be charged with murder. I think the charges brought upon him are appropriate.

I don't think how sad a situation is, or how good a parent is on every other day...should matter. When a child dies, because the parent didn't do the BARE MINIMUM, they should be charged.
 
I disagree that Harris intentionally held his head above the vehicle.

His actions beyond what happened the day of Coopers death was used by the State to convict him.

That could happen in this case also and I'm sure that LE is looking into that possibility. JMO

That's your opinion. Not fact. I'm not particularly troubled by people who have affairs. I think people are human and make mistakes. I found the evidence very compelling against JRH. Using logic. Not my emotion.
 
I don't think Cooper's case should be compared to cases like this. One doesn't have to purposefully leave a child in a car, to commit a crime or be charged with one. One does have to purposefully leave a child in the car to be charged with what RH was. It's apples to oranges. This dude probably didn't premeditate this, so of course he's not going to be charged with murder. I think the charges brought upon him are appropriate.

I don't think how sad a situation is, or how good a parent is on every other day...should matter. When a child dies, because the parent didn't do the BARE MINIMUM, they should be charged.

Right. He hasn't been charged with first degree premeditated murder. He's been charged with child neglect and manslaughter. I think that some feel the charges against Harris weren't supported and that it was just another case of accidentally forgetting a child. So comparisons are being made.
 
1. She was accused. But there wasn't enough proof. LE questioned her and made statements that her demeanor was off.

2. The jury found he looked in the back seat.

3. I never said an affair made someone guilty. Neither did the jury. But his statements about his life and his son to his various paramours were telling. I'm not sure why people take apart one aspect of a case to conclude the case isn't strong. Pretty much no case is determined by examining only one piece of evidence. It's virtually always a puzzle with various pieces that cannot be examined in a vacuum.

4. If looking up hot car deaths a couple of weeks before your own child is left in the car by you is not strong circumstantial evidence that a person is guilty of the premeditated murder of their child when they left their child in the car to bake, then I don't know what is. Especially when he claims e made those searches because "I was concerned that something like this could happen". And then after putting a clearly awake child in his car and forgetting to make the turn to daycare less than a minute later, his kid dies in a hot car despite his "concern" and research?

Nah. There was a ton of evidence in that case.
Okay there was a ton of evidence in the Cooper Harris case showing that Ross was guilty.

Instead of making every post on this thread about that case lets look at this one.

Driving for any distance with a strong smell in the car is strange to me. Why did Rodriguez not notice the children immediately upon opening the door?

Was he under some kind of stress that caused this unusual action? You would think he would look in the back of the car to find the source of the bad smell right?

There's got to be more to this case. JMO
 
Right. He hasn't been charged with first degree premeditated murder. He's been charged with child neglect and manslaughter. I think that some feel the charges against Harris weren't supported and that it was just another case of accidentally forgetting a child. So comparisons are being made.

Man. I followed that case more closely than any others. (Looking back now, I was a bit obsessed.) I can't imagine thinking it wasn't supported!
 
Okay there was a ton of evidence in the Cooper Harris case showing that Ross was guilty.

Instead of making every post on this thread about that case lets look at this one.

Driving for any distance with a strong smell in the car is strange to me. Why did Rodriguez not notice the children immediately upon opening the door?

Was he under some kind of stress that caused this unusual action? You would think he would look in the back of the car to find the source of the bad smell right?

There's got to be more to this case. JMO

Is this Father a victim? Or perpetrator?

I won't judge anyone. But, I think that the responses from the police are all over the map. There needs to be more consistency in how these cases are handled.
 
Okay there was a ton of evidence in the Cooper Harris case showing that Ross was guilty.

Instead of making every post on this thread about that case lets look at this one.

Driving for any distance with a strong smell in the car is strange to me. Why did Rodriguez not notice the children immediately upon opening the door?

Was he under some kind of stress that caused this unusual action? You would think he would look in the back of the car to find the source of the bad smell right?

There's got to be more to this case. JMO

I don't know that there was a strong smell or if there was why it didn't register immediately.
 
I noticed something when reading an article about this case.
Family and friends greeted the father when he was released from custody Saturday evening. He was met with cheers and several hugs as he was ushered into a car.
The hugs I can understand but the cheers have me wondering what there is to cheer about. We have two dead children and a father facing prison. JMO

Dad whose infant twins died in hot car is 'devastated' attorney says
 
I don't know that there was a strong smell or if there was why it didn't register immediately.
We will see for sure if this case goes to trial if odor is a factor.

My guess is that the inside of the car had to smell pretty bad with those two kids locked inside for eight hours. JMO
 
Is this Father a victim? Or perpetrator?

I won't judge anyone. But, I think that the responses from the police are all over the map. There needs to be more consistency in how these cases are handled.

Maybe both?

Individual states get to have their own laws and interpret their laws free of federal control unless that interpretation or law violate the constitution.

Prosecutors have the power to decide who is prosecuted, and how. That's not unique to hot car deaths. (And it's why elections can be super important).

Does all of that open the door to inequities in the system at large? Yes. It is irrefutable that certain groups are generally treated vastly differently than others by the legal system.

But it's not unique to hot car deaths. It's every case of every nature.
 
Is this Father a victim? Or perpetrator?

I won't judge anyone. But, I think that the responses from the police are all over the map. There needs to be more consistency in how these cases are handled.
The police believe he perpetrated multiple crimes.
Rodriguez was arrested and charged with two counts each of manslaughter, criminal negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of a child, the New York Police Department said.

New York hot car deaths: His 1-year-old twins died in a hot car. He thought he left them at daycare - CNN
 

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