Woman Pleads No Contest in the Heat Deaths of 2 Boys

An Antelope Valley woman whose foster sons died after she left them in a sweltering sport utility vehicle last summer pleaded no contest Thursday to two counts of involuntary manslaughter in a plea agreement that helped her avoid a possible life prison term.

Leslie Sue Smoot had faced two murder counts and child-abuse charges for leaving the two young brothers in her Cadillac Escalade on July 8 as temperatures in the High Desert city of Lancaster reached 100 degrees.

When she returned to the car parked outside a day-care center she operated five hours later, 5-year-old Dakota Price had died of heat exposure. His brother Nehemiah, 3, was seriously dehydrated, and died later at a hospital.

As part of her agreement with Los Angeles County prosecutors, Smoot faces a sentence ranging from probation to five years in state prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Tannaz Mokayef said.

Smoot, 48, who remains free on bail, is awaiting a sentencing hearing March 9.

Her attorney, Michael Eberhardt, maintains that the incident was an honest mistake.

Eberhardt has compared Smoot’s situation to that of Mark J. Warschauer, a UC Irvine professor who left his 10-month-old son in his car while he was working in his campus office on Aug. 8.

The child died of heat stroke but Orange County prosecutors declined to file charges, saying they could not show Warschauer had exhibited “conscious disregard” for his son’s safety.

Eberhardt said Smoot also simply forgot about the children -- a mistake, he said, that does not rise to the level of a crime.

“She’s never denied responsibility for the deaths of the two children,” he said.

“The issue in my mind has always been whether she’s been criminally responsible.”

Friends have described Smoot as a kind, religious woman who was dedicated to the children at her two Lancaster day-care centers and at home, where she and husband, Larry, cared for 35 foster children during the last decade.

Smoot’s child-care business was the subject of a number of complaints in recent years.

Some were not substantiated by the state Department of Social Services, but others were, including a 1998 complaint issued by Los Angeles County that cited broken windows, faulty toilets and torn carpets at one of the facilities.

The businesses were temporarily shuttered by the state after Smoot’s arrest, and Smoot has since decided to close them permanently, Eberhardt said.

Smoot’s foster-parent certification has also been revoked. After her arrest, state officials removed two children from her custody.

One child, whom she had adopted, is now with her relatives; the other, whom she had planned to adopt, is in state custody, Eberhardt said.