Las Vegas dad’s appeal rejected in hot SUV death case

Associated Press

Published Thursday, June 11, 2015 | 2:48 p.m.

Updated Thursday, June 11, 2015 | 5:13 p.m.

A divided Nevada Supreme Court on Thursday upheld involuntary manslaughter and child abuse convictions against a Las Vegas father whose disabled 4-year-old son died in a sunbaked family vehicle where authorities said he was forgotten for 17 hours.

None of Stanley Ernest Rimer's many claims that he received an unfair trial warranted a reversal of his 2011 conviction, a court majority ruled in a 4-3 decision written by Justice Michael Douglas.

Three justices dissented. Justice Michael Cherry maintained that Rimer was twice convicted of felony abuse and neglect of the child because the state suspended statutory time limits to prosecute him under the theory that child abuse was continual until the boy's death.

Rimer and his wife, Colleen Mary Rimer, were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and multiple counts of child abuse and neglect by a jury that heard evidence that they physically abused the child, Jason, and allowed the boy and five of their seven other children, ages 9 to 17, to live in squalor.

Stanley Rimer, now 58, is serving eight to 30 years in state prison. Colleen Rimer, 47, is serving five to 20 years.

The high court noted that Jason was born with congenital myotonic dystrophy, a chronic muscular condition that made it hard for him to walk and required him for a time to be fed through a gastrostomy tube into his abdomen.

Jurors were told he was left wearing a seatbelt in a Ford Escalade when the family returned home from church in June 2008. No family members found him until the following morning.

Authorities determined he died of heat stress.