In an unusual move, a Clayton County juvenile court judge Monday ordered a teenager tied to a toddler’s death at a Jonesboro day care center to create a memorial in behalf of the dead girl.
The 16-year-old girl, whose name was withheld because she is a juvenile, also was sentenced to two years’ probation and 40 hours of community service for her part in the death of 2-year-old Jazmin Green. The little girl died June 20 after being left alone for about two hours in a hot van at Marlo’s Magnificent Early Learning Center following a field trip.
The teenager, the day care’s owner and the owner’s daughter were charged with cruelty to children in the second degree, reckless conduct and involuntary manslaughter. The toddler’s death came several months after the facility was found to have violated a state law that requires a vehicle check after field trips to ensure children have been removed safely.
The toddler’s parents, who attended Monday’s hearing, welcomed the idea of a memorial. The order was handed down by Judge Steven Teske.
Charles Green, Jazmin’s father, spoke before the teenager’s sentencing Monday.
“I told her, ‘I don’t hate you,’ ” Green said. “But two things we know: You’re sitting here and my daughter’s not with us today. We may never know fully what happened because the truth died with my daughter.”
Green said nothing the judicial system does will make up for the loss of his daughter, but he added that the juvenile court’s background search on the teenager found she didn’t have a criminal record.
Moved by the father’s speech, Teske added the order to create a memorial to be displayed in some government location “where it would be protected and seen by the public.”
The teenager will have about six months to complete it, with input from the dead girl’s parents so she can best “capture Jazmin.” Teske said creating the memorial would be healing for the teenager and Jazmin’s family.
“It could be a painting or sculpture or anything. I want you to be creative,” Teske told the teenager, who cried throughout Monday’s proceedings.
“You cannot restore that life,” Teske said in an interview Monday afternoon. “The best we can do is remember her as long as we breathe.”
Also as part of the teen’s sentence, she must participate in a mentoring program for girls called Girls of Favor.
Jazmin’s mother, April McAlister, was touched by the judge’s order.
“For the judge to say to do a memorial for my baby, that made me feel kind of good,” said McAlister, who will return to work Tuesday for the first time since Jazmin’s death.
Green, who will return to his job Monday, called the memorial idea a “great thing,” but he added steps need to be taken to ensure such a tragedy doesn’t happen again.
The day care center’s owner, Marlo Maria Fallings, and her daughter, Quantabia Shantell Hopkins, are out on bond awaiting a court date. The facility remains closed.
Nearly 40 children die each year in hot cars from heat-related deaths, according to Kids And Cars, a group that tracks the dangers of children and motor vehicles. The group noted that between 1998 and 2010, 495 children died from vehicular heatstroke, with a record 49 cases in 2010 alone.
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