An American woman was sentenced after abandoning her children in her car in the blazing sun to give herself lip infections; one of them was found dead.

A father and grandmother devastated by this tragedy

On March 5, 2026, Maya Hernandez was sentenced to  15 years to life imprisonment  after pleading not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of her son. Upon hearing the verdict, Rosendo Gutierrez, the boys’ father, who learned of the tragedy while in prison, broke down. “ I don’t think 15 years is enough. Having been to prison myself, I know there are many programs that could help get him out sooner. This should never have happened… it’s killing me,”  he said during the hearing, according to  ABC30 , before adding: “ They were my boys. I really loved them. I feel like I failed them because I wasn’t there to save them.”  This immense sadness was shared by the boys’ grandmother, who also believes the sentence is “ far too lenient,”  according to  Le Parisien .