Father Acquitted in Hot-Car Death Case

Man left child in SUV for nine hours

FAIRFAX, Va. -- A Loudoun County man who left his newly adopted toddler from Russia locked in an SUV for nine hours on a 90-degree day has been acquitted of involuntary manslaughter.
 
Prosecutors charged Miles Harrison, 49, of Purcellville, after his 21-month-old son, Chase Harrison, died of heat stroke when the father forgot to drop the boy off at day care and instead left him in the parking lot at his Herndon office.
 
Harrison and his wife had adopted the boy from Russia just three months earlier.
 
At a bench trial, Fairfax Circuit Court Judge R. Terrence Ney ruled Wednesday that Harrison's conduct did not meet the legal standard for manslaughter, which requires "negligence so gross, wanton and culpable as to show a callous disregard for human life."
Copyright AP - Associated Press
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