The New York City father whose infant twins died after he left them in his car while he went to work has not yet been indicted, and prosecutors reportedly said they will not rush the case to a grand jury.
According to the New York Post, Bronx District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Patrice O’Shaughnessy said in court on Thursday that “no grand jury action” has been taken in the manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide case against Juan Rodriguez, whose boy and girl twins died on Friday after he drove them to work and left them in the car, apparently believing he had dropped them off at daycare before driving to his job at a VA Hospital, where he is a social worker who treats homeless and ailing vets.
“We’re still investigating,” O’Shaughnessy said.
The Bronx district attorney said Thursday the case against Juan Rodriguez, who is charged in the death of his 1-year-old twins who were left in a hot car, would not yet go to a grand jury. https://t.co/ZFBaEz8OLY
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) August 1, 2019
Prosecutors have six months to indict Rodriguez, who remains charged with two counts of criminally negligent homicide and two counts of manslaughter. As CrimeOnline previously reported, Rodriguez discovered the twins, Luna and Phoenix, strapped into their car seats on Friday just after he pulled out of the parking lot at work. He reportedly stopped the car and found them dead, foaming at the mouths, and began screaming “I killed by babies!” as bystanders called police.
Rodriguez was released on $100,000 bail on Saturday. Outside the courthouse Thursday, Rodriguez’s lawyer indicated in a statement to reporters that he is hoping his client may avoid prosecution.
“We understand that they will continue to evaluate all aspects of the case and we welcome their evaluation of that,” the attorney, Joey Jackson, reportedly said. “We believe at the conclusion of them evaluating all the facts, all evidence and everything in this case, they will come to the conclusion that this is a horrible tragedy.”
“He has nothing at all to harbor and hide, other than to feel misery and sorrow about what happened in this case,” the lawyer added.
