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Rockland County resident Juan Rodriguez, 39, of New City, appeared briefly in court on Thursday, Dec. 5, hoping to learn if the Bronx district attorney will proceed with criminal charges, but the prosecutor requested another adjournment. They did not say what was holding up the process.
In a hearing lasting under a minute, Rodriguez and his attorney, Joey Jackson, were told that the case had been adjourned until Feb. 6, 2020.
When Jackson said the lack of movement on the case causes a "reliving of the whole situation."
Judge Bahaati Pitt said if there is no decision by February, she will address the situation.
Jackson had wanted the District Attorney to drop the charges, saying the deaths were a "tragic accident."
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!”
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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