Mother of Twins Left in Parked Car to Face Manslaughter Charges

Beverly Jean Ernst, whose infant twins died last month after she left them in a hot car, said Saturday that she has received an order to appear in court on Monday to be charged with involuntary manslaughter and involuntary child endangerment.

Ernst, 25, of Anaheim said she received the summons late Friday ordering her to appear in West Orange County Municipal Court on the charges.

She said she will enter a plea of not guilty.

“I’m very upset,” Ernst said. “It’s hard enough as it is. It seems like they’d realize there isn’t much worse punishment than the hurt I feel now.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Wallace Wade, who is handling the case, declined to comment Saturday.

Under the California Penal Code, involuntary manslaughter is killing through “gross negligence” or “without due caution.”

The sentence for involuntary manslaughter can be 2, 4 or 6 years in prison. However, defendants can receive probation, which can include one year in a county jail.

Ernst was arrested July 20 on suspicion of manslaughter and willful cruelty to children resulting in death after her 3-month-old babies died of apparent heat stroke.

Police said Ernst left the twins unattended in the back seat of her car for about an hour while she visited a friend inside a janitorial supply store in Garden Grove. All the car’s windows were closed except for one, which was open about an inch, police said.

However, Dennis O’Connell, the public defender representing Ernst, said he believes the children were in the car only 15 to 20 minutes on that day, when temperatures were estimated at 78 degrees.

Firefighters said that temperatures inside a closed car in that weather could have reached 120 degrees within 10 or 15 minutes and that an infant’s sweat glands cannot compensate for such heat.

Ernst, who is divorced, spent four days and five nights in County Jail while prosecutors considered whether to file charges, but a judge ordered her released on her own recognizance.