Judge Declared Dad Not Guilty In Death Of Son
12-18-2008 4:12 AM

(Fairfax, VA) -- A Northern Virginia man who left his young son to die in a hot SUV this summer will not be going to prison after a Fairfax County judge ruled he did not commit involuntary manslaughter. The judge said the actions of 49-year-old Miles Harrison fell short of the legal standard for conviction. Defense attorney Peter Greenspun agrees, saying there was not a "callousness" in his client's action as the law requires. Twenty-one-month-old Chase Harrison, who had been adopted from Russia in March, was left in the back seat of Harrison's SUV on July 8th. Harrison testified he was distracted that day and forgot to drop the boy off at an Ashburn day care center and accidentally left him in the car for nine hours

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!! This poor child suffered for nine hours and this guy gets off scott free. I understand that he did not "intend" to kill his child, but he did because he was distracted. So what happens if i'm on my cell phone while driving and i'm "distracted" and I hit and kill someone, I bet I get marched off to jail and do time, but this man kills a baby and walks. Let me have him and put him in a sauna turned up to the max for nine hours and see if he likes it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2008 04:32AM by When will it end.

When will it end Wrote:
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> ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!! This poor child
> suffered for nine hours and this guy gets off
> scott free. I understand that he did not "intend"
> to kill his child, but he did because he was
> distracted. So what happens if i'm on my cell
> phone while driving and i'm "distracted" and I hit
> and kill someone, I bet I get marched off to jail
> and do time, but this man kills a baby and walks.
> Let me have him and put him in a sauna turned up
> to the max for nine hours and see if he likes it.


That sounds a bit paranoid. You would be marched off to jail, but "this guy" got off scot-free.

Why do you think you would be subject to any harsher justice?

Is it because he's some "other" that has some advantage in our justice system?

Do you think the court system went soft on him because he has some privilege or advantage, and they would stick it to you?

Listen to yourself. I understand you're indignant, but to believe that you would be subject to some harsher form of justice is a bit paranoid.

First let me say, i'm a mother to 4 children and could never imagine leaving my kids in a car for 11 hours. Second with all the accidents happening because of people being distracted while chatting on a cell phone, they (the system) are cracking down on people while talking and driving. Its my personal belief that because of all the recent talk about cell phones and accidents they would lock me up if I hit and killed someone. Its not about being paranoid as you say, its what I believe due to the increase in cell phone/accidents. I was using myself as an example, thats all and nothing more.

Alias you are talking to yourself! A mom with 4 kids would be asleep at the hour you are posting, and Bob is sounding really lame this morning. You should really get more sleep...

When will it end Wrote:
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> > ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!! This poor child suffered for nine hours and this guy gets off scott free. I understand that he did not "intend" to kill his child, but he did because he was distracted. So what happens if i'm on my cell phone while driving and i'm "distracted" and I hit and kill someone, I bet I get marched off to jail and do time, but this man kills a baby and walks. Let me have him and put him in a sauna turned up to the max for nine hours and see if he likes it.< <

The Deputy Commonwealth Attorney blew it and overcharged in this case. A child neglect charge gets a conviction in a minute. The prosecutor refused to consider the lesser charge.

Involuntary manslaughter requires a showing of callous disregard for human life. That's a very high standard. There was no evidence of callousness which requires more than distraction or forgetfulness.

If you want to blame somebody for Mr. Harrison "getting off scott free" (what's with the anti-scott bias?) blame the Deputy Commonwealth Attorney who didn't file a charge that fit the evidence.

spunky Wrote:
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> Alias you are talking to yourself! A mom with 4
> kids would be asleep at the hour you are posting,
> and Bob is sounding really lame this morning. You
> should really get more sleep...


Spunky, a mom of four kids probably HAS to be up at that hour in order to get them off to school, etc.

I have three kids and am up at 5:30 am unfortunately.

He should not have gotten off. Re-trial and give him some time. Make him sit and think about adopting a kid and neglecting to take care of the child.

the official verdict is in Wrote:
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> He should not have gotten off. Re-trial and give
> him some time. Make him sit and think about
> adopting a kid and neglecting to take care of the
> child.


Ever heard of double-jeopardy?

Bob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> the official verdict is in Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > He should not have gotten off. Re-trial and
> give
> > him some time. Make him sit and think about
> > adopting a kid and neglecting to take care of
> the
> > child.
>
>
> Ever heard of double-jeopardy?

They could re-charge him with child neglect, couldn't they? They just can't charge him with involuntary manslaughter.

Something tells my the father's life isn't made any happier by the lack of a conviction. Parents usually love their kids, and the thought of being the cause of the death of one's child is unimaginable. I think you can rest assured that the father is being punished ruthlessly every day without a criminal conviction.

It was a horrible accident. Leave the guy alone. I would have been more pissed off if he ended up in jail, taking the place of some child molester or rapist.

MrMephisto Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bob Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > the official verdict is in Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > He should not have gotten off. Re-trial and
> > give
> > > him some time. Make him sit and think about
> > > adopting a kid and neglecting to take care of
> > the
> > > child.
> >
> >
> > Ever heard of double-jeopardy?
>
> They could re-charge him with child neglect,
> couldn't they? They just can't charge him with
> involuntary manslaughter.

I believe that would be Double Jeopardy.

Double jeopardy refers to being charged twice for the same crime.

WashingTone Locian Wrote:
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> It was a horrible accident. Leave the guy alone. I
> would have been more pissed off if he ended up in
> jail, taking the place of some child molester or
> rapist.


Agreed.
Tragic things happen.
Who exactly would be served by punishing this man?

SBS Wrote:
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> Double jeopardy refers to being charged twice for
> the same crime.


Yes. It doesn't matter if he is charged with involuntary manslaughter or child neglect, the crime itself is the same. Otherwise prosecutors could go through the list of charges and try people until something sticks.

Not necessarily. In the case of Rodney King, the cops were cleared on the assault charges, but later convicted of violating his civil rights. Manslaughter and child neglect are different enough to try him on, I think.

I don't think anyone will really push for it hard enough to be called into question, though.

MrMephisto Wrote:
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> Not necessarily. In the case of Rodney King, the
> cops were cleared on the assault charges, but
> later convicted of violating his civil rights.
> Manslaughter and child neglect are different
> enough to try him on, I think.
>
> I don't think anyone will really push for it hard
> enough to be called into question, though.


In the Rodney King case you had two different jurisdictions - State and Federal. The assault case was State the civil rights case was Federal. What happened with this guy wouldn't rise to the level of violating Federal law.

Either way, conviction or not, this guy obviously didn't do it on purpose or with malicious intent, and will probably be beating himself up over it for much longer than they would have put him in prison for.

SBS Wrote:
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> Double jeopardy refers to being charged twice for
> the same crime.

or does it?


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."
Attachments:

MrMephisto Wrote:
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> Either way, conviction or not, this guy obviously
> didn't do it on purpose or with malicious intent,
> and will probably be beating himself up over it
> for much longer than they would have put him in
> prison for.


Agreed. It's not like he is one of those people who knowingly leaves his kid in the car for two hours while shopping at Tysons on a hot summer day.

Doesnt anyone see a problem with this??? A child sat in a hot car for ELEVEN hours and slowly and i'm sure painfully suffered until they died. My question would be..... was this a single father who adopted? Divorced? because what about the mother in this case, where was she?

I know that if my husband were to drop off my kids at a daycare center, at some point during those ELEVEN hours I would have called to see if everything went ok, how did they do, what time are they going to get picked up ect.... Eleven hours and the wife didnt call to see how the child was? I dont get that.

I'm not saying the guy did this on purpose, but there were no phone calls to this guy to jog his memory about the son that was in his care for eleven hours.

Spunky.... oh how wrong you are about being asleep at that time with 4 kids. Mom of three backed me up on that one. Thanks.

Pgens..... I'm sorry but most of the parents that I know, cant even get by an hour without thinking of they're kids, what they're doing, if they're safe, are they having fun ect.... I dont know, maybe he was just too new to parenthood to understand how you take care of a child.

I just cant get by the 11 hours without even thinking of his son.

Guilty if being HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does anyone know of sites that keeps statistics on this sort of thing? Why is the child always forgotten in hot weather? I don't think I've ever seen a report of someone forgetting a child in a car in the winter.

When will it end Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I know that if my husband were to drop off my kids
> at a daycare center, at some point during those
> ELEVEN hours I would have called to see if
> everything went ok, how did they do, what time are
> they going to get picked up ect.... Eleven hours
> and the wife didnt call to see how the child was?
> I dont get that.
>

First, the article says 9 hours. Second, I'm sure that the father feels terrible about this and putting him in prison won't fix anything. Third, you have to ask how dropping the kids off at daycare went? Helicopter parent?

Yeah, locking this guy up serves no purpose other than vengeance.

He is not a danger to society.
He is working and (presumably) paying taxes.
He has to live with the kid's death.
He's out a lot of dough on the adoption (4 round trips to Russia is costly)
He's out a lot of dough paid to Mr. Greenspun.


Now, if, as the article says, he made THIRTEEN cell phone calls while driving a fucking Yukon to work....he should have gotten 5 years for that!

Genevieve ....
Your obviously not a parent otherwise you would see no problem in making a phone call to see how dropping the child off went.
Oh and excuse me, my apology for making a two hour error. What the hell difference does it make if its 9 hours or eleven hours, the boy is still dead because his father left him in the car because he was distracted!!! My point or question more or less is..... I cant understand why no-one called this man during the NINE hours the kid was in the car.

I guess what makes me sick is that, we have people out here that are getting more time in jail for cruelty or neglect to they're pets and someone leaves they're kid in a car, who dies, and the parent walks.

Helicopter parent is a colloquial, early 21st-century term for a parent who pays extremely close attention to his or her child's or children's experiences and problems, particularly at educational institutions. These parents rush to prevent any harm or failure from befalling them and will not let them learn from their own mistakes, sometimes even contrary to the children's wishes. They are so named because, like helicopters, they hover closely overhead, rarely out of reach, whether their children need them or not. In Scandinavia, this phenomenon is known as curling parenthood and describes parents who attempt to sweep all obstacles out of the paths of their children.

Genevieve.... might want to look up the definition before posting. You were close but sorry no nail on the head this time around.

Placing a call to find out how they did is hardly a helicopter parent. Nice try though.

When will it end Wrote:

> Your obviously not a parent

I am a parent so let me jump in on this.

You sound like a crazy person.

If you could magically bring this child back to life and ask him whether or not you think his father should rot in prison for his mistake. What do think the child would say? What would you say?

Not everything is black and white.
You are the person responsible for explaining the gray areas to your kids.
You clearly lack this capability. I feel sorry for your kids.

You're right; I'm not a parent. So humor me here. How can a simple task like dropping a child off at daycare require a follow-up call to see how it went? How WHAT went? You dropped the munchkin off and you left. Any news from the daycare center staff can be conveyed that evening. Do you even let your husband go shopping for your Christmas presents without asking him how he did? Can he pour his own cereal?

And I understand the definition of a helicopter parent. Aren't you honored to see your picture next to the definition? I mean, how often can one exemplify the qualities of something so well that they get their picture in the dictionary? Congratulations!

isittheheat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does anyone know of sites that keeps statistics on
> this sort of thing? Why is the child always
> forgotten in hot weather? I don't think I've ever
> seen a report of someone forgetting a child in a
> car in the winter.

The same sites that keep the statistics on all the kids that didn't die from accidents or neglect.

They generally don't track children left in cars that did not result in any incident, since that means NOTHING HAPPENED. Kids left in cars in 60 degree weather, or even colder weather generally don't die or need hospitalization.

When will it end Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Doesnt anyone see a problem with this??? A child
> sat in a hot car for ELEVEN hours and slowly and
> i'm sure painfully suffered until they died. My
> question would be..... was this a single father
> who adopted? Divorced? because what about the
> mother in this case, where was she?
>
> I know that if my husband were to drop off my kids
> at a daycare center, at some point during those
> ELEVEN hours I would have called to see if
> everything went ok, how did they do, what time are
> they going to get picked up ect.... Eleven hours
> and the wife didnt call to see how the child was?
> I dont get that.
>
> I'm not saying the guy did this on purpose, but
> there were no phone calls to this guy to jog his
> memory about the son that was in his care for
> eleven hours.
>

Actually, no, I don't see this as being as wrong as you make it out. It obviously affected you emotionally, and you are reacting to it emotionally. Some people react to things out of balance with the reality of the situation, but that doesn't change the reality of the situation. You're like the mother who leaves her baby in a crib with a dry cleaning bag and comes back 10 minutes later surprised to find a blue baby, and sues the maker of the dry cleaning bag which results in a law requiring the bags to have "do not place in or near cribs" on every fucking dry cleaning bag in the world.

If you remember a few years back, there was a woman in like Arizona or Nevada who left her relatively newborn baby in her car while she worked a shift at Hooters. She did it on PURPOSE. Now that is a time to be indignant and vengeful, but this guy screwed up, did something extremely stupid and it resulted in very dire consequences.

God help you if you ever leave something on the floor that causes one of your kids to trip and fall down the stairs. Everyone is going to hold you to your higher standard of responsibility, and even though you couldn't have foreseen the tragic death of one of your kids by leaving a toy on the ground, we're going to demand the severest penalty possible.

And yes, you are a helicopter parent. You just don't realize it because all of your friends are exactly like you and you all reinforce each others' irrational fears.

When Will It End-
I am a parent of four. All who are long out of daycare. I cannot imagine my wife calling me to ask me how it went dropping them off at daycare? To think that the wife should have done that is beyond my comprehension. You must not have much trust in your husband.

In this case it would have been fortunate for the wife to have had as little trust in Mr. Harrison as you do in your husband. Too bad that wasn't the case. But, this guy has suffered enough. Let him try to put his life back together. Jail would have served no purpose.

For the record- in over twenty years of parenting, I never left a child younger than fourteen in the car alone while I went in somewhere. And only then when it was a very short stop.

I want everyone to keep in mind Genevieve pours my cereal for me, and I have to check in for EVERYTHING.

Genevieve..... The good thing about posting id's is that you have no idea who your responding to. See here is the thing... I know you very well and I would just LOVE to plaster some information on here about you. Just once I would love to be on the laughing end of seeing some of these people just tear into you. I knew you didnt have kids, but I couldnt let the other posters know that I knew that, so therefore I had to play it off like I wasnt sure. You are one of the most hateful, disgusted, pathetic posters on here, its really funny how you portray yourself when your sitting behind a screen, oh how different it is in person.

Somebody....
Dont feel sorry for my kids, they are alive and well. If you want to feel sorry for someone, how about feeling sorry for the 21 month old that isnt here anymore because his father forgot about him, do you think maybe you can dig deep enough to feel sorry for him? Maybe not, maybe leaving a baby in a car sits fine with you. If your husband ever left your baby in a car to die, i'll be sure to send him a bunch of flowers for doing such a great job, i'll even send a bunch for you too for sticking by his side.

super, now get over it.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

When will it end Wrote:
>> See here is the thing... I know you very well and


So you what you're basically trying to say is that in addition to being an annoying cunt, you also stalk people on the side.

Nice.

When will it end Wrote:
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> Somebody....
> If your [wife] ever left your baby in a car to die,

Since this is the only non strawman in your post I'll reply to it.

If this exact same situation happened to your husband, what would you like to see happen? What would we need to do to him for punishment so he can see the error in his ways?
Should we lock him up for 10 years, punishing his remaining three kids and wife?
What would you demand of your husband?
What if it happens to one of your kids and one of your grand children tragically dies?
Will you come on here and demand your child be killed in the same manner?

Your posts come off as extremely frantic and almost panicked. You are accusing the man of intentionally killing his child.
Turn on your empathy chip for a second and consider that he could use your sympathy.

I would imagine that Genevieve could give a rat's ass if this pyscho knows her or not.......

There have been times when I have gone places with my family and my wife has had to remind me that the baby was still in the car seat when we left the vehicle (the baby was asleep).

If the baby was new to the family and the father wasn't used to dropping him off at daycare as part of his normal routine and the baby was sleeping in the car seat, I can certainly see how something like this could happen. Additionally, infant car seats are now required to be turned backwards when buckled in, so the driver can't even see the kid unless there is a mirror strategically placed on the back seat, which would only contribute to this kind of mistake happening.

Everything I have heard makes it sound like the guy was devastated when he realized what happened. It was a horrible, horrible accident that the guy will never get over. Sticking him in prison for a mistake like this accomplishes nothing.

It seems apparent the dad did this accidentally.

"When will it end" is panicking here, fearful something similar will happen to her.

Ditto on the 'ZOMG I know you Genvieve' stuff. Either use it or don't bring it up. This is the equivalent of going Internet Tough Guy here.

When I drop my daughter off at daycare, my wife emails me at work and asks how I'm doing and how dropoff went. I tell her how it went. End of (that line of) conversation. I didn't realize this was being done out of my wife's secret belief that I'm incompetent. Other couples don't see the need to do that. So be it.

Hi everyone,

I just want to check in with all you parents reading this thread to see how things went this morning on your way to daycare. Is everything OK? Please write back so that I know all has gone well. I'll check back in a little while.

Thanks!!

TheMeeper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi everyone,
>
> I just want to check in with all you parents
> reading this thread to see how things went this
> morning on your way to daycare. Is everything OK?
> Please write back so that I know all has gone
> well. I'll check back in a little while.
>
> Thanks!!

Shit! I forgot my 10-year-old in the backseat!

umm Hi,,,,, Im phoning this in on my iphone......uhm my dad left me strapped into my booster seat and went into the Officers club. uuhhmm ive already wrote a HELP! Help! SOS in the steamy windows of the back of the car. Can, like someone car jack me out or at least try and shove some Dorritos through a cracked open window pls?

WashingTone Locian Wrote:

> >Shit! I forgot my 10-year-old in the backseat!


Yeah, well maybe they should throw your ass in a sauna and turn the heat all the way up!!

Hmmmm, if the kid could pick his path.....

Stay in the dank but warm Russian orphanage, the food wasn't so good, but at least I get to eat, and during the holidays it was the best. Go to school, study engineering, get a job, maybe get married, become a caring and attentive father to a father of three healthy children, sometimes drink good vodka.

or

Go to the states, with a not-fit-to-be-a-father father, go on a long car rides everyday until the last, when the last thing I ever heard (besides my cries) is my idiot father gabbing endlessly on the phone to his girlfriend, attorney, accountant, who knows. It wasn't to me, though. I wasn't as important to him as all those others (maybe if I only had a kiddie cell phone he could have called me) and then the final noise, the Yukon door slams shut and then I am done. I didn't even get to go to Disney World.

Don't know, think Daddy should be punished. Just like Kevin Kelly was when he accidently killed Francis in Manassas.

Chase Wrote:
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> Don't know, think Daddy should be punished. Just
> like Kevin Kelly was when he accidently killed
> Francis in Manassas.

Or like that police officer who hit that other lady's car and killed her, right?

What a sad bunch of people you are. None of which requires a response. Accept for one..... the one where it says that i'm a stalker because I KNOW someone. Please.

When will it end Wrote:
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> What a sad bunch of people you are. None of which
> requires a response. Accept for one..... the one
> where it says that i'm a stalker because I KNOW
> someone. Please.


Sad because we have compassion? Or sad because we are empathetic?

Well how about that, The Meeper calling someone annoying. His sense of irony is developed even if his mind isn't.

Walter Sobchek Wrote:
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Attachments:

Or sad cuz i know a kitty named smokey Lamb who is lost and the poor putty Tat is cold and lonely and so scared and all he wants for Kwismiss is to get home pleeeeeeeeeease?!?

What is a "Meeper", anyway?

RESton Peace Wrote:
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> I want everyone to keep in mind Genevieve pours my
> cereal for me, and I have to check in for
> EVERYTHING.

Only since you got lost on the way to work. I don't want to stick you in the Alzheimer's hospital quite yet.

496 Wrote:
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> I would imagine that Genevieve could give a rat's
> ass if this pyscho knows her or not.......


Yeah, you got that right.

ferfux Wrote:
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> Or sad cuz i know a kitty named smokey Lamb who is
> lost and the poor putty Tat is cold and lonely and
> so scared and all he wants for Kwismiss is to get
> home pleeeeeeeeeease?!?


Your wrong Smokey Lamb went back and got his sweater.

ferfux Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Or sad cuz i know a kitty named smokey Lamb who is
> lost and the poor putty Tat is cold and lonely and
> so scared and all he wants for Kwismiss is to get
> home pleeeeeeeeeease?!?

LOL!


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."
Attachments:

What is a "Meeper", anyway?

It's a synonym for rectum

Hey Meeper,
It's time to upgrade that computer, not to mention your wardrobe.

Gravis Wrote:
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> ferfux Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Or sad cuz i know a kitty named smokey Lamb who
> is
> > lost and the poor putty Tat is cold and lonely
> and
> > so scared and all he wants for Kwismiss is to
> get
> > home pleeeeeeeeeease?!?
>
> LOL!



I see Smokey Lamb got too hot and shed his sweater. But dang, somebody alert Smokey Bear, there is a kitty fire.

Walter Sobchek
-------------------------------------------------------

Attachments:

Not COOL doctor!
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I was also wondering if the child's mom and dad even communicatd during the day. Wouldn't just a call or a quick email from the mom to the dad mention the child? Wouldn't that sort of remind the dad that he never dropped off the child? I mean, he was obviously into making calls from his car ( 13 of them!) so I would imagine he was a parent who connected with mom each day.

That other guy down in Mannassas who left his baby daughter in the car a few years back has tried to get the charges erased from his record even though he served no jail time. I forget his name but he had like 12 kids.

Trickie

When you already have 12 kids you can afford to leave one or two of them in a hot car.

What is a Meeper?

The Meeper is about eight inches long and serves, basically, as a warehouse for poop. It hooks up with the sigmoid colon to the north and with the anal canal to the south.
The Meepr has little shelves in it called transverse folds. These folds help keep stool in place until you're ready to go to the bathroom. When you're ready, stool enters the lower Meeper, moves into the anal canal, and then passes through the anus on its way out.

Walter Sobchek Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What is a Meeper?
>
> The Meeper is about eight inches long and serves,
> basically, as a warehouse for poop. It hooks up
> with the sigmoid colon to the north and with the
> anal canal to the south.
> The Meepr has little shelves in it called
> transverse folds. These folds help keep stool in
> place until you're ready to go to the bathroom.
> When you're ready, stool enters the lower Meeper,
> moves into the anal canal, and then passes through
> the anus on its way out.
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