Shelby Twp. Mom Sentenced To Probation 2 Years After Toddler Dies In Hot Minivan

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - The mother of a 2-year-old boy who died in a hot minivan in Macomb County has been placed on probation after prosecutors failed to get a murder charge reinstated.

Audrionna Rhoades appeared in court Tuesday, months after pleading no contest to child abuse.

James Nelson died after being strapped in the van for hours in Shelby Township in September, 2013. Rhoades, who was 21-years old at the time.,took a car to work — and there apparently was confusion over who was supposed to watch the child.

Judge Jennifer Faunce said the loss of a child was enough punishment.

The judge dismissed a second-degree murder charge earlier this year, a decision that was upheld by the Michigan appeals court.

At the time the initial chargers were filed Rhodes' grandmother, Mary, told WWJ's Marie Osborne that she didn't believer her granddaughter was responsible for the death "The baby was the light of our lives – we all adored him – his mother adored him," said … "She went to work, she was at work, she had a baby sister."

"She's a good mother," said her grandmother. "She was working – going to Oakland College, I mean this girl was not somebody who was out running the streets."

Defense attorney Leon Weiss said probation is a fair sentence. Rhoades spent nearly eight months in jail after her arrest.

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