I want everyone to read that post very carefully. I will give a prize to anyone who can find any words in there about a “pattern” of neglect or a “history” of neglect. Our County Prosecutors have invented some language to suit themselves which does not appear in Ohio Law.

And they are saying that if you are forgetful, you are no longer reckless. I think that being knowingly forgetful is a type of recklessness all by itself.

The Ohio Supreme Court decided in 1997 that parents had to exhibit a “mental recklessness” to be guilty of endangering. OK, how about knowingly leaving the child in a hot van? Any parent who says they “forgot” is admitting that they knew. You can’t forget something you never knew. 

Both Jodie Edwards and Brenda Slaby admit to having strapped their daughters into their car seats themselves.

They have both admitted knowing their children were in the car.

Any legal defense must be able to be objectively examined. Forgetting is subjective, not objective. No one can proove that they forgot something.

That’s why “forgetting” has never been a legal defense. And never will be.

Kate Harner