Mother pleads not guilty in death of baby left in hot car in Louisiana

JENNINGS, La. (AP) — A Louisiana woman whose 10-month-old daughter died after being left in a car in August has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.

Bill Riley, the attorney for Hannah Faith Cormier, 32, of Jennings, pleaded guilty Monday in state court and asked for a jury trial, the American Press reported.

Cormier was initially arrested on charges of second-degree murder and child abuse, but a grand jury indicted her earlier this month on lesser charges, to which she pleaded guilty.

She remains out of jail on $10,000 bond pending a preliminary conference scheduled for March 31, 2025. That conference will determine whether the case will go to trial or be resolved through a guilty plea, officials said.

A man was arrested after a standoff at a Baton Rouge motel, officials say

Cormier is accused of leaving her daughter unattended in hot cars for several hours outside a fast food restaurant while she was at work. Temperatures that day were in the mid to high 90s with heat readings in the triple digits. According to police, when she was taken to the hospital, the child’s body temperature was 109 degrees (42 Celsius).

Cormier told police she didn’t realize the child was still in the back seat until she left work and found her unconscious. Cormier took the child to a local hospital, where she was stabilized and later transferred to another hospital in critical condition. She later died of what police said was heat stroke.

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