Mother Gets Prison Term For Letting Sons Die in Hot Car

A young mother was sentenced to 18 years in prison Thursday for letting her two little boys die in a sweltering car outside a motel where she had gone to see her boyfriend.

Judge Charles Haston said he was not convinced that Jennie Bain Ducker was remorseful and that her demeanor at her sentencing was hostile. Ducker will have to serve at least six years before she is eligible for parole.

Ducker, 21, a manic-depressive with a history of alcoholism, was convicted Oct. 3 of aggravated child abuse in the deaths of Devin, 2, and Dustin, 1.

She had left the boys buckled in their car seats with the tinted windows rolled up for at least eight hours June 6 as the temperature inside the vehicle soared to an estimated 120 degrees.

Ducker claimed the boys’ deaths were an accident that occurred after she had a glass of wine and fell asleep. On Thursday, she told the judge that no sentence was worse than living with the deaths of her sons.