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Juan Rodriguez, 39, of New City, appeared briefly in court on Tuesday, Sept. 24, hoping to learn if the Bronx district attorney will proceed with criminal charges, only to be told by prosecutors that no grand jury action had been taken on the case.
In a hearing lasting under two minutes, Rodriguez and his attorney, Joey Jackson, were told that the case had been adjourned until Thursday, Oct. 24.
Jackson, who has urged prosecutors to drop the charges, agreed to the adjournment in hopes of a continued discussion of the topic of parents accidentally leaving their children in cars.
During the hearing, Rodriguez held hands with his wife, Marissa, who has supported her husband since the death of the twins Luna and Phoenix on Friday, July 26, while he was at work.
The twins were found dead by Rodriguez after he got off work at the James J. Peters VA Hospital in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx, around 4 p.m., and was driving home.
When he noticed the twins in the backseat of the vehicle, he got out along the highway and stood screaming.
“I blanked out,” he reportedly told police officers when they arrived. “I killed my babies!”
Temperatures hit the mid to upper 80s the day the babies were left in the car. According to the medical examiner's office, the 1-year-old twins were found to have a body temperature of 108 degrees when they died.
Rodriguez faces charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of a child.
Since the deaths, friends, and family have supported the distraught father who is working to start a foundation to address the mounting number of deaths among children whose parents accidentally left them inside vehicles.
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