Ridgefield Man Avoids Jail Time In Hot Car Death Of 15-Month-Old Son
DANBURY, Conn. (CBSNewYork) -- A Ridgefield father was sentenced Thursday in connection with the death of his 15-month-old son who he left in a hot car last summer.
Kyle Seitz received a conditional discharge and was spared prison time and probation at his sentencing Thursday in Danbury Superior Court.
Seitz left his son Benjamin in the car after forgetting to drop the child off at day care on his way to work on July 7, 2014.
Seitz didn't notice the child in the backseat when he drove off to a deli during a lunch break. It wasn't until he left work for the day that he discovered his lifeless son still strapped in the car seat.
Benjamin was inside the car for more than seven hours as temperatures climbed into the upper 80s, according to police. Seitz got in or out of his car nine different times the day Benjamin died.
The medical examiner ruled the case a homicide, and Seitz was charged with criminally negligent homicide.
Seitz was deemed guilty after entering a plea under the Alford Doctrine, not admitting guilt but conceding the evidence against him would likely result in a conviction at trial.
He faced up to a year behind bars. The judge, however, said the grieving father has suffered enough.
"I cannot punish him more than this event has punished him, nor would I choose to do so," Judge Kevin Russo said Thursday.
Seitz spoke briefly in court, WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reported.
"I just wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you to all the people who have shown our family so much love and support," he said.
Seitz did not comment outside court. His lawyer, John Gulash, told CBS2's Lou Young his client believed he had dropped off his son at day care that morning.
"No one ever suggested that at any point during the day, at any point prior to going to his day care to pick his son up did he have any knowledge that his son was not at day care," Gulash said.
"This is a good example of something that could literally happen to anybody. Anybody," the lawyer added.
Seitz's wife's attorney read a statement in court asking for leniency from the judge.
According to friends, Seitz is a responsible, loving family man and they're perplexed to understand how such a tragedy could have occurred.
Seitz's wife, Lindsey Rogers-Seitz, has set up a website, TheGiftOfBen.com, and has become an advocate for technology that could help prevent people from accidentally leaving children in cars.
She and their two surviving children have since moved to Colorado, where Seitz plans to join them, 1010 WINS' Al Jones reported. The couple has been in counseling since Benjamin's death.