Dad goes to trial in heat exhaustion death of 23-month-old daughter (St. Augustine, Florida)

Dad OMAR DONTE LONG is now going to trial in the heat exhaustion death of his 23-month-old daughter (we posted on this case last summer). It's another "caretaker" case where Mom was working. Dad dropped off Mom at her place of employment then "forgot" he left the baby in the car while he took a nap on the couch.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-11-17/story/state_want_jury_to_sit_in_st_augustine_babys_death_car

State want jury to sit in St. Augustine baby's death car
Prosecutors are using it against a father accused of leaving her inside.
By Richard Prior Story updated at 8:58 AM on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009

ST. AUGUSTINE - The prosecution wants to put jurors behind the wheel of the same model car in which a baby died of heat exhaustion this summer to bolster their argument that the child's father must have known she was seated near him.

Omar Donte Long has told "two versions" of what happened the morning his 23-month-old daughter, Arianna, died, Assistant State Attorney Bryan Feigenbaum said as Long's trial opened Monday.

Those versions, Feigenbaum told Circuit Judge Wendy W. Berger, were, "I forgot, or I don't know."

Four male jurors and two females were chosen Monday to hear the case against Long, 30, charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child.

According to the initial investigation, Long's girlfriend, Lashondia Anderson, woke him up the morning of June 14 to take her to her job at Flagler Hospital. She had to be there by 6.

Anderson placed their child, Arianna, in a child carrier behind the passenger seat in Long's 2006 Dodge Charger.

When Long returned home, he left the car running, locked the doors, went inside and went to sleep on his couch.

A relative found the child dead in the car around noon.

Temperatures inside the Charger reportedly rose above 130 degrees that morning.

The state no longer has the original car, Feigenbaum said. However, there was no change in a Charger's interior dimensions from 2006 to 2008.

Defense attorney Jill Barger argued that it would be "highly prejudicial" for jurors to examine the car in daylight, when the incident happened during the pre-dawn hours.

St. Johns County Deputy Kevin Roberts testified that he went to Flagler Hospital to talk to Long, who had gone there to be with his family.

Anderson and Long were in a consultation room when Roberts first saw them.

Long "was lying on the floor ... [repeatedly saying], 'I killed my baby,'" Roberts testified.

The detective said he asked Long to come with him to a nearby hospital room so they could talk about what happened. He said he didn't read Long his Miranda rights because he wasn't in custody.

He denied pressuring Long to give a statement.