Mother Faces Trial in Death of Twins : Heat Killed Babies Left Unattended in Her Car for Five Hours

A 25-year-old mother whose twin infants died of heat stroke after she left them in an unattended car for five hours was ordered Monday to stand trial on involuntary manslaughter charges in Orange County Superior Court.

Handing down the order, Municipal Judge Dan C. Dutcher said that “not one person in a thousand” would consider such conduct “anything other than the grossest of negligence.”

The divorced mother, Beverly Jean Ernst, who had remained calm through most of her six-day preliminary hearing, ran from the courtroom in tears. Dutcher allowed her to remain free on her own recognizance until her trial.

According to testimony at the hearing, Ernst’s twin babies, Ashley and Adam, were left in her car in Garden Grove from 7 a.m. to shortly past noon on July 20, while she and her boyfriend, Scott Morrow, slept inside a nearby janitorial supply shop where Morrow was living. Health officials estimated that the noontime temperature inside the car could have reached 120 degrees.

Ernst and Morrow had gone out for coffee about 3 a.m. on the morning of the infants’ deaths, according to testimony at the hearing, taking the babies inside an Anaheim restaurant with them. They returned to the shop about 7 a.m., and the twins were left in the car while Ernst went inside the building, according to testimony.

Ernst’s attorney claims that she took a nap inside the shop after Morrow agreed to watch the children for her, then discovered to her horror when she awoke that Morrow had fallen asleep too.

But Dutcher said there was no evidence during the preliminary hearing that Morrow had promised to watch the children. Even if he had, the judge said, there was some question whether she should have fallen asleep knowing the two babies were still in the car.

Dutcher ordered her to stand trial on two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of felony child endangerment.

The judge said the circumstances would have been worse if Ernst had been awake during the five hours the children were alone in the car. But he added that “any reasonable person would have to realize they were courting disaster . . . when you’ve got someone so precious out in the car.”

Dutcher said he was sympathetic to Ernst and that he is sure that she “will regret for the rest of her life” what happened.

But, the judge added, “I couldn’t sit here in good conscience and say that what she did doesn’t amount to culpable negligence.”

Deputy Public Defender Dennis P. O’Connell said later he is sure that, at her trial, a jury will be persuaded that Morrow agreed to watch the babies for her, and that she had no intention of taking anything more than a short nap.

O’Connell has been critical of the district attorney’s office for pursuing a case against Ernst. She has already suffered more than she could with any jail sentence, O’Connell said.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Wallace J. Wade said his office has a duty to prosecute Ernst.

“Those two children had certain rights, and it’s our responsibility to see that those rights are vindicated,” Wade said.