Charges Dropped Against Va. Woman In Child’s Death

CHRISTIANSBURG (AP) – Prosecutors have dropped criminal charges against a Blacksburg woman whose son died of heat stroke after being left in a car.

Wythe County special prosecutor Frank Slavin said during a hearing Monday there wasn’t enough evidence to proceed with the case against 46-year-old Mary Nelson Parks.

Parks had been charged with involuntary manslaughter and felony child neglect after her year-old son Juan Turner Parks died Sept. 7, 2007. Parks accidentally left the child in her car instead of dropping him at daycare and found him dead after work that day.

Her attorney, Dave Rhodes, issued a statement calling Parks a caring, devoted mother who will forever mourn the loss of her child.