TN woman convicted of murder in death of baby in hot car www.privateofficer.com
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. July 23 2010 - A jury in Clarksville has found a mother guilty of second degree murder and aggravated child neglect after her baby died in a hot car while she went to a bar.
The Leaf-Chronicle reported that the jury came back with the verdict against Cortni Nichols Thursday afternoon.
On the witness stand Wednesday, Nichols said she forgot she had left her 3-month-old daughter, Faith Nichols, in the car in July 2008.
Testimony showed she even went out to the car at one point — for cigarettes — but didn’t check on the baby. The 26-year-old Nichols told jurors she didn’t understand why she failed to take her infant out of the car.
Court records show baby faith’s body temperature reached 103.8 degrees before her death. She was pronounced dead at a hospital emergency room.
Prosecutors told the jury she “knowingly and intentionally” left the baby in the car. Closing arguments were made on Wednesday and the jury began deliberations Thursday morning.
Nichols will be sentenced in September.
