Mother Whose Twins Died in Car Gets 4 Years

Beverly Jean Ernst, whose 3-month-old twins died of heatstroke after being left unattended in a car for five hours, was sentenced Friday in Santa Ana to four years in prison for child endangerment.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Jean H. Rheinheimer rejected probation for the 26-year-old woman, who has two other children, citing “the seriousness of the crime and the vulnerability of the victims.” Ernst was in tears throughout the 25-minute hearing.

“Miss Ernst, I wish you well,” Rheinheimer said. “I think you can make a turnaround.”

But her attorney, Deputy Public Defender Dennis P. O’Connell, said his client was “devastated” by the sentence.

“She is not going to get one ounce of rehabilitation in prison,” O’Connell said later. “She’s going to deteriorate.”

Ernst, who has been in custody since August, was led away with her head down as she mumbled to O’Connell through her sobs, “It’s unfair.”

Ernst was convicted of two counts of felony child endangerment last April in the deaths of her twins, Adam and Ashley.

The infants were left in the back seat of Ernst’s car outside a Garden Grove supply shop where her boyfriend, Scott Morrow, lived while Ernst and Morrow slept inside the shop.

Ernst and Morrow had returned to the shop about 7 a.m. July 20, 1986, after spending four hours at a coffee shop with the babies and a friend of Morrow’s.

Awoke After 5 Hours

Both Morrow and Ernst say the babies were left strapped into their car seats when they went into the shop. Ernst said she meant to rest for just a minute but fell asleep, thinking Morrow would watch the children. She awoke five hours later to find Morrow asleep beside her.

They ran to the car, but the babies had been dead 1 1/2 hours, according to medical testimony at Ernst’s trial. The windows were rolled up, and the temperature inside the car had reached 120 degrees.

O’Connell argued that Morrow was responsible for the deaths because he had agreed to watch the children if Ernst fell asleep--a contention that Morrow denies. But Ernst undercut O’Connell’s defense by telling jurors: “I’m responsible. I’m their mother.”

Morrow was arrested a few weeks after the incident for fleeing the state to avoid testifying. But he was released after testifying at Ernst’s preliminary hearing and was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in the infants’ deaths.

Ernst of Anaheim was charged with involuntary manslaughter as well as felony child endangerment. Jurors could not agree on the manslaughter counts, and prosecutors later dismissed them. But felony child endangerment carries a penalty just as serious.

Abuse of Children Alleged

At a sentencing hearing that began in June, prosecutors presented evidence, including testimony from her brother, Stephen, that the defendant had a history of physically abusing her other two children, a boy now 7 and a girl now 5. They are now in the custody of their father, Ernst’s ex-husband.

Ernst, often in a drug-induced state, knocked the young boy against the wall several times, according to her brother. One acquaintance testified that, when the boy was 3 years old, Beverly Ernst put a gun to his head and threatened to kill him if he did not behave.

After that hearing, Judge Rheinheimer sent Ernst to the California Institution for Women at Frontera for a 90-day diagnostic study. Rheinheimer said she wanted more information before deciding whether to send Ernst to prison or to grant her request for probation and outside counseling.

The state women’s prison recommended this week in its 90-day report that Ernst be sent to prison. The counselor and psychologist who interviewed Ernst for the report recommended probation. But the superintendent at Frontera, Annie Alexander, rejected those suggestions and recommended to Rheinheimer that Ernst be sent to prison.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Wallace J. Wade pointed out--and the judge agreed--that the counselor and psychologist had based their recommendations partly on an earlier statement by Ernst to police that she had left the children unattended in the car only about 20 minutes. Also, Ernst apparently did not mention to them that she had been out to a coffee shop with the children at 3 a.m. before the incident.

“Miss Ernst, the court has not made this decision lightly,” Rheinheimer said. The judge called it one of the most difficult decisions that she has ever had to make.

Friend’s Offer Noted

The judge noted that a friend with whom Ernst was living had offered to watch the children while she went out the night before they died but Ernst had refused. The judge said Ernst was essentially out “cruising” the night of the infants’ deaths.

Prosecutor Wade said after the hearing: “I think we all feel sorry for Miss Ernst. But this is an appropriate sentence. It took a lot of courage for the judge to take that position.”

Prosecutors said Ernst probably would serve the sentence at the Frontera prison.

O’Connell said he will appeal, but he added that Ernst could be nearing the end of her prison term by the time her appeal works itself through the courts. Unless she causes any problems in prison, she will likely be out in two years, he said.

“I’m very disappointed,” O’Connell said. “This woman should never have been prosecuted. She’s been punished enough.”