A Michigan man who accidentally left his 3-year-old son to die in a hot car for several hours last summer may be able to avoid significant jail time altogether, a judge ruled this week.
Chad Martin, 36, pleaded guilty in January to one count of causing the death of a child by leaving him in a vehicle.
On Thursday, the judge overseeing the case sentenced Martin to nine months in the Kalamazoo County Jail, with two favorable conditions. First, the sentence will not begin until February 2026.
Second, the judge has scheduled a conference for December of this year, which could result in the sentence being vacated entirely.
Regardless of his time behind bars, the defendant was sentenced to three years’ probation, which began this week.
The incident occurred on August 16, 2023, when Martin left the house with his two children. The defendant dropped off his daughter at daycare but forgot about his son, he later told investigators.
Instead, Martin drove straight to work, where he stayed from around 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. before returning to his car to go grocery shopping.
When his father arrived at the Family Fare supermarket in Vicksburg, a small village just a few miles south of Kalamazoo, he discovered the boy lifeless outside. In total, the boy was strapped into his car seat in the back for approximately nine hours.
The outside temperature in western Michigan reached 84 degrees that day, but the inside temperature of the vehicle was likely closer to 120 degrees due to the rolled-up windows, police said.
“The day that happened was the worst day of my life,” Martin stated during the sentencing hearing, according to a courtroom report from Kalamazoo-based CBS affiliate WWMT. “I deserve whatever punishment I get.”
The Wolverine State, for its part, had no objections to the father’s relatively lenient sentence in this case.
“The Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office conducted a very thorough investigation so that we could feel confident in saying that this truly was an accident,” Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting told ABC affiliate WZZM in Grand Rapids.
“And I believe it is also important to recognize that the child’s mother supported this outcome, that the defendant not be sentenced to prison as a result of this. And I believe that these are important distinguishing factors.”
According to court documents obtained by WZZM, the father explained that his older daughter walks herself into day care, whereas the boy must be carried in. Martin also stated that he “never checks the backseat when he gets to work” and that the children “always sleep in the vehicle en route to daycare.”
“I guess I went straight to work,” Martin told the investigators.
The boy’s mother also spoke at the sentencing hearing, explaining the anguish caused by a loss she knew was unintentional but avoidable, and admitting that she struggled with what Martin’s sentence should be.
“You will never know the true depth of the pain you caused,” Samantha Brown told WWMT through tears. “There is no justice for my son or daughter or for me.”
