Just recently, we brought you an article about an irresponsible mother who left her 16-month-old baby alone in the car while she played for hours at the casino. Fortunately, this case ended without serious consequences.
Today, however, we have a much worse case for you, one that may have happened back in 2022, but only now has the court held a sentencing hearing. We're going to go back to August 27, 2022, in Raleigh, North Carolina, where a then 29-year-old mother of two went to a Vegas Style Sweepstakes arcade.
She left the kids in the car for 6 hours!
The mother was Launice Shanique Battle, who also had her two young daughters - three-year-old Amora and two-year-old Trinity - in the car with her. Launice played in the playroom from 2:30pm to 8:30pm while her children were alone in the car the whole time.
After Launice got back to her car, she found her young children unresponsive. She immediately drove them to the nearest Duke Raleigh Hospital where unfortunately they were both pronounced dead. The doctors immediately called the police, who arrested Launice.
Cause of Death
According to the medical report and subsequent autopsy, it was determined that the girls' bodies no longer had any body temperature when they arrived at the hospital, and their bodies were already in a mild stage of decomposition. The cause of death was hyperthermia, a condition in which the human body absorbs more heat than it can give off. It was up to 35 degrees outside that day, so Launice literally boiled her children in the car.
According to further information, it was revealed that Launice had already been investigated by Child Protective Services three times between 2019 and 2022, the last time being just 2 months before her daughters' deaths. It was also discovered that three-year-old Amora had multiple health issues. Amora was born prematurely, had a congenital heart defect and also had a feeding tube inserted. She reportedly suffered a stroke and was also repeatedly hospitalized.
How much time will the irresponsible mother serve?
The mother's family commented on the case that Launice is a caring and loving mother who just made a mistake and is no murderer. Launice was originally charged with two counts of murder and faced more than 80 years in prison.
The verdict came down just recently on July 25, 2024, when Launice made a plea deal with the prosecutor. Launice agreed to plead guilty to the second-degree murder charge. As a result, the court gave her a sentence of between 94 (nearly 8 years) to 125 months (more than 10 years) behind bars for each child. The court also credited her with 667 days already served in her sentence.
The trial record also shows us that in determining her sentence, the court found no aggravating factors that could have increased her sentence. To the contrary, the court found that her willingness to accept responsibility for the offense was a mitigating factor and thus concluded that a mitigated sentence was warranted in this case.
What do you think of this case? Do you agree with the sentence or do you think she should have received a higher sentence? Let us know in the comments on our social media!
Source - lawandcrime.com, newsobserver.com, google maps, peopleenespanol.com, medium.com
