SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – The New Mexico Supreme Court on Thursday granted retrial for two daycare workers in the 2017 death of a 1-year-old girl and serious injury to another infant left in a car in the hot sun. Ta.
The High Court said in a news release that a series of confusing instructions were given to the jury in the 2019 joint trial of Mary Taylor and her adult daughter Sandy Taylor, leading to child abuse charges against the defendant. announced that his conviction had been vacated.
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Attorneys listed in court records for the mother and daughter did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
The Taylors, who live in Portales, New Mexico, operated a licensed daycare center out of their home. Each was sentenced to 36 years in prison for reckless child abuse, but was released in 2020 after appealing their convictions.
A child abuse case in New Mexico focuses on confusing instructions given to jurors in a previous trial.
In July 2017, the Taylors drove their children to a nearby park for lunch and playtime. The children, both girls under the age of 2, were left in a hot car for nearly three hours, authorities said.
The high temperature that day in Clovis, near Portales, was 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius).
One of the girls died at the hospital the same day. The other person survived, but was expected to face physical hardship for the rest of her life.
According to the high court’s ruling, jurors at trial will be given a list of factors to consider, including whether the childcare worker failed to take proper head count and whether children were placed in the car without prior permission. It is said that it was done. from state Child Protective Services “and/or” whether they failed to remove the girls from the vehicle.
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The high court held that such a list provides “an alternative for a jury to find that the defendant committed child abuse,” without requiring the jury to unanimously agree on the conduct that led to the guilty verdict. We provided a method.”
