Every time summer rolls around, people are warned not to leave their children or animals inside cars because it can get exceedingly hot inside.
But one mother decided to lock her one-year-old son, Cavanaugh Ramirez, and his two-year-old sister, Julie, inside her car in Texas last year because they were misbehaving.
Local media says Cynthia Marie Randolph kept them inside the car to 'teach them a lesson' because one refused to leave the car when they were asked.
Advert
That day in Weatherford, the mercury climbed to around 36 degrees, but inside the vehicle would have been much, much warmer.
Mum Randolph said she thought the kids would have been able to get themselves out of the car, however, sadly, the two young kids died of heat stroke.
According to police documents and reported by the Sun, the 25-year-old mum left her kids in the car, rolled a joint and fell asleep while watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
When she was taken into custody she gave several different scenarios of what happened, which ranged from the kids were only in the car for a short time, they locked themselves inside and that they had disappeared from her sight and she didn't know they in the car.
But the young mum was eventually arrested and charged with two felony counts of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury.
According to CBS, Assistant District Attorney Kathleen Catania told the court: "Under our law, a person acts recklessly when they consciously disregard a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur."
Advert
Assistant District Attorney Abby Placke added: "We thought that the evidence supported a finding that she acted knowingly, which means that she knew that her actions were reasonably certain to cause the result, which, in this case, was her children's' deaths.
"This distinction was a pretty challenging one for jurors to make.We appreciate the jury's dedication throughout this long and emotional trial."
Randolph was eventually found guilty of both charges and has been sentenced to 20 years behind bars for each count.
She could have been charged with knowingly causing serious injury to a child, which is a first-degree felony and would have meant she could have faced a life sentence. However jurors felt that she didn't lock the car doors with the intention of killing her kids.
Advert
Sources: The Sun, Washington Post, CBS
Topics: Police, Texas, News, hot, crime, Car, Jail, Health, temperature