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Inset: Chad Martin (Kalamazoo County Jail). Background: The grocery store where Martin discovered his son deceased in the backseat of the car (Google Maps).
A Michigan father who inadvertently left his 3-year-old son in a hot car, resulting in the child’s death last summer, may ultimately escape significant jail time, as per a recent judge’s decision.
In January, Chad Martin, 36, pleaded guilty to one count of leaving a child in a vehicle causing death.
On Thursday, the judge presiding over the case sentenced Martin to nine months in the Kalamazoo County Jail — with two favorable provisions. Firstly, the sentence is postponed to commence in February 2026. Secondly, a conference is set for December this year, which could potentially result in the sentence being dismissed entirely.
Regardless of his time behind bars, however, the defendant was sentenced to three years of probation that began this week.
The incident occurred on Aug. 16, 2023, when Martin left home with his two children in tow. The defendant dropped his daughter off at her day care, but forgot about his son, he would later tell investigators. Instead, Martin drove straight to work where he stayed from roughly 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. before getting back in the car to go grocery shopping.
The boy was discovered, lifeless, outside of a Family Fare supermarket in Vicksburg — a small village located just a few miles south of Kalamazoo — when his father arrived at the store. In sum, the boy was strapped into his car seat in the back for about nine hours.
The outside temperature peaked at 84 degrees that day in western Michigan, but the inside temperature of the vehicle was likely closer to 120 degrees because of the rolled-up windows, police said.
“The day that happened was the worst day of my life,” Martin said during the sentencing hearing, according to a courtroom report by Kalamazoo-based CBS affiliate WWMT. “I deserve whatever punishment I get.”
The Wolverine State, for its part, did not have an issue with the relatively lenient sentencing meted out to the father in this case.
“The Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office conducted a very thorough investigation so that we could feel confident in saying that this truly was an accident,” Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting told Grand Rapids-based ABC affiliate WZZM. “And I think it’s also important that we recognize that the child’s mother was supportive of this outcome, that the defendant not be sentenced to prison because of this. And I think that those are important distinguishing factors.”
The father explained that his daughter, who is a bit older, walks herself into her own day care while the boy would need to be carried in, according to court documents obtained by WZZM. Martin also said he “never checks the backseat when he gets to work” and that the children “always sleep in the vehicle en route to daycare.”
“I guess I went straight to work,” Martin told investigators.
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“You will never know the true depth of the pain you caused,” Samantha Brown haltingly said through tears, according to WWMT. “There is no justice for my son or daughter or for me.”
