BREAKING: Mom pleads not guilty in car crash – American Press

Jennings’ mother, whose 10-month-old daughter died after she left her in a hot car in August, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.

Through her attorney, Bill Riley, 32-year-old Hannah Faith Cormier pleaded guilty Monday in 31st District Court with a request for a jury trial. It was her first appearance in court after the charges against her were reduced.

Cormier was initially arrested on charges of second-degree murder and child abuse, but a grand jury indicted her earlier this month on the lesser charge of negligent homicide.

She remains out of jail on $10,000 bond pending a pretrial conference scheduled for March 31, 2025. The results of the pretrial conference will determine whether the case will go to trial or be resolved by a guilty plea.

Cormier is accused of leaving her daughter Airia unattended in hot cars for several hours outside a local 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.

Cormier told police she was called to work and left the child unattended in the car for several hours while she was inside. She didn’t realize the baby was still in the back seat until she left work and found her passed out.

Cormier took the child to Ochsner American Legion Hospital in Jennings, where she was stabilized and later transferred to another hospital in critical condition. She later died of what police said was heat stroke.