Patrick Mcmahon
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A Denver, Colorado mother will see eight years in prison and three years’ probation after leaving her two-year-old son in a car overnight during a snowstorm in 2016.
Nicole Carmon pleaded guilty to negligent child abuse causing serious bodily injury and attempted first-degree assault in November of last year, according to 9News. She told authorities that she’d taken six shots of vodka before walking away from her car with her two-year-old son inside.
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Carmon also told police that she’d simply forgotten where she left her son and car that night. Police discovered her son in the car the next day, still restrained by a seatbelt in a car that was under six inches of fresh snow. While he was still alive, the child was suffering from hypothermia and frostbite. Overnight temperatures were between 9 and -8 degrees Fahrenheit.
Today, Carmon wept as her sentence was read in court.
#Denver mom sentenced to 8 years… after leaving child in freezing car. 🎥 : @9NEWS pic.twitter.com/V8mLD57qQZ
— USA TODAY Video (@usatodayvideo) January 6, 2018
“I do have a problem,” said Carmon, who reportedly has a record of alcohol-related offenses dating to 2008. “I do love my kids and put them before me all the time.”
The judge in Carmon’s case called her crimes “atrocious” and “jaw-dropping.” While she could have seen up to ten years in prison, the judge trimmed that to eight — at the cost of years of probation. Carmon’s judge wanted to “send a message” about the duties and responsibilities of parenting and the consequences for tossing them aside, according to CBS4.
Adams County District Attorney Dave Young says Carmon received a “just sentence” and continues to “[blame] others for her actions.”
“She needs to look in the mirror and understand it was her who left that child in the car,” he added.
