Couple Guilty in Child Parking Lot Death

— A couple was found guilty Thursday in the death of their great-grandson in a car in the Springdale Walmart parking lot.

At A Glance

Hyperthermia

Hyperthermia is elevated body temperature occurring when a body produces or absorbs more heat than it dissipates. Extreme temperature elevation then becomes a medical emergency requiring immediate treatment to prevent disability or fatal heat stroke.

Source: The Medical Dictionary

William Staten, 51, and Margette Staten, 61, were found guilty of misdemeanor negligent homicide in Springdale District Court. Joniah Chronister, 2, died Aug. 3 after he was left asleep in a car while the temperature climbed to 102 degrees. The Statens shopped for more than two hours while Joniah was in the car, according to police testimony.

Judge Ernest Cate found the couple guilty and sentenced them to one year in jail each and $100 court costs. The maximum sentence for the offense is a year and $2,500 fine. Cate didn’t fine the couple.

“There was no ill intent,” Cate said. “It’s just a horrible situation. Nothing we do here will bring this child back.”

Joel Huggins, attorney for the Statens, said, after the trial, he had no additional comment.

The judge reached the right decision, said Jon Nelson, deputy city attorney.

“We think this called for the maximum jail time,” Nelson said. “This child was left in a death trap for over two hours.”

Huggins, in his closing argument, said the couple forgot Joniah, who fell asleep on the trip to Walmart.

“This was a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind,’” Huggins said.

The facts in the case were not in dispute, Cate said. The determination of the case hinged on the degree of negligence of the couple, he said.

“It’s not reasonable to leave this child in a car for two hours,” Cate said.

Witnesses agreed about most of what happened. The Statens went to Walmart to purchase school supplies for Joniah’s siblings. He begged to go along, then fell asleep on the drive while the couple discussed care of the children. The Statens moved to Arkansas from California to help take care of Joniah and his four siblings, said William Staten.

The couple forgot Joniah was in the car and went into Walmart. After shopping for what they thought was 45 minutes, they realized the boy was not with them.

Margette Staten went to the car, found Joniah unconscious and pulled him out of the car. Patrick Ingram, who called 911, said he saw the boy, lying across the car trunk, was blue, purple and black.

The boy was taken inside to wait for police and the fire department to respond. Maise McGuire, a nurse’s assistant, give the boy CPR inside Walmart. Joniah’s skin was hot and he had no pulse or heartbeat, McGuire said.

Police officers and firefighters also performed CPR before Joniah was taken to Northwest Medical Center-Springdale.

Doctors said the boy was dead on arrival at Northwest, although they tried to revive him. His core temperature at arrival was 108 degrees, said Dr. David Beam.

The autopsy by the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory showed Chronister died of environmental hyperthermia.

Cate gave the Statens until Dec. 11 to decide if they would appeal the case to Washington County Circuit Court.

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