A manslaughter case against a Collin County father is now in the hands of a jury.
Joshua Cartee is facing one count of manslaughter and two counts of criminally negligent homicide in connection with the death of his two year old son Jorden in 2013.
Jorden was discovered unconscious in a hot car on the family’s property.
Prosecutors say his father was asleep in the family’s Anna home when Jorden let himself out into the yard and climbed into a parked car where he liked to play.
One of the criminal negligence charges references the fact that locks installed less than two months earlier during a CPS investigation were not fastened when Jorden escaped.
The family had signed a safety plan with the agency promising to constantly supervise the boy and lock the doors where the toddler could not reach.
“The solution was simple – lock the door,” said prosecutor Crystal Levonius, Chief of the Collin County District Attorney’s Office Crimes Against Children division. “This defendant disregarded that risk.”
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The other count references the fact that Cartee allegedly did not call police for more than an hour after discovering his son was missing, instead searching the acres around the family’s rural home by himself.
“He didn’t call because he was more concerned about himself,” said Levonius. “He didn’t want anyone to know what had happened.”
Defense attorney David Kleckner has maintained Jorden’s death was a tragic accident, describing Cartee as a “frantic parent”, not a reckless one.
Kleckner did not present a case on Wednesday, choosing to leave the burden of proof to the state.
Deliberations will resume Thursday morning.
