June 23 (UPI) -- A New York father whose twin children died after he left them locked in a car on a hot day avoided jail time on Tuesday.
Juan Rodriguez, 39, pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree reckless endangerment in a virtual hearing on Tuesday in the deaths of his 1-year-old twins, Luna and Phoenix, last July.
Bronx District attorney Darcel D. Clark elected not to seek an indictment on those charges instead granting him a year of conditional discharge, which will allow him to remain out of prison unless he is arrested within the next year. He had been free on bail since his arrest.
"These babies suffered horribly and we owed them a thorough investigation," said Clark. "This was a tragic, unfortunate incident. I hope that as the sweltering weather is upon us, caregivers will be extra vigilant about children in vehicles.
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Joey Jackson, an attorney for Rodriguez, declared the ruling a "just and appropriate resolution" to the case.
"For the rest of his life, he will be scarred by what happened here," said Jackson. "He will feel really badly by what has occurred here. So I don't think today is any vindication for him."
Rodriguez was initially charged with homicide after the twins were found dead in a car in the Bronx in July.
He told investigators that he accidentally left the twins in their rear-facing car seats after dropping off his older child at daycare and forgot to drop them off at their daycare center before reporting to work at the Veteran's Administration Medical Center at 8 a.m.
Rodriguez said he returned to his car at around 4 p.m. and drove two blocks before he noticed the children appeared lifeless in the backseat.
The temperature outside the car reached 86 degrees that day and the twins' internal body temperature reached 108 degrees, leading to organ failure after several hours in the car, the medical examiner's office said.
