Jury deliberations continue in trial of parents of boy who died in hot vehicle

By Dave Toplikar

Published Monday, Feb. 28, 2011 | 12:26 p.m.

Updated Monday, Feb. 28, 2011 | 5:11 p.m.

Jury deliberations will continue into a third day Tuesday morning in the trial of Stanley and Colleen Rimer, who are accused in the death of their 4-year-old special needs son, Jason, who died after being left in a hot family vehicle in June 2010.

After deliberating all day Monday, the jury told Judge Douglas Herndon that it was finished for the day about 4:45 p.m. and would reconvene at 10 a.m. Tuesday for further deliberations.

One of the jurors had to be replaced Monday morning, which meant that deliberations had to start over.

Shortly before noon, Judge Douglas Herndon called attorneys into the courtroom to explain that one of the male jurors told a court marshal that he wasn't well and thought he might be having a heart attack.

Herndon said after paramedics checked him out and took him away that one of the two alternate jurors who had sat through and heard the evidence in the two-week trial was called in to serve.

Herndon told attorneys that he instructed the jury that they could not force the new juror to accept any decisions that the jury had made thus far. He said they would have to start over their deliberations with the new juror.

After hearing closing arguments Thursday afternoon, the jury began deliberating, then took a break Thursday night and returned Friday to deliberate most of the day.

The Rimers are on trial for not only the second-degree murder of their son, but also for multiple counts of child abuse, neglect and endangerment involving Jason and their other children.

During the two-week trial, jurors have heard from several of the Rimers’ eight children, from Child Protective Services investigators and a church caregiver about the conditions at the home and the hygiene of the children.

Police said Jason’s body was found June 8, 2008, after 17 hours of being left in the vehicle, where he was strapped in his seat after his mother had driven him and several other members of the family home from church.

Both of the Rimers have said they were ill that day and were staying in their bedroom. They said they had thought one of the other children had taken Jason out of the vehicle. Jason had myotonic dystrophy and was unable to get out of the seat himself.

According to testimony, the temperature inside the locked car could have climbed to 130 degrees or more. Prosecutors told the jury the boy basically "baked to death" in the hot SUV.

During the trial, prosecutors tried to demonstrate that the Rimers had a history of neglect and abuse of their eight children, which led to the tragedy of Jason being left in the vehicle.