DA: No grand jury action yet for father who left twins in hot car

The prosecution put the case on hold for several weeks to decide whether to prosecute Juan Rodriguez – the father who left his twin babies in a hot car for several hours, ultimately leading to their deaths.
Rodriguez 's 1-year-old twins, Luna and Phoenix, died in the back seat of his Honda after he left them for eight hours while he worked at a nearby Veterans Affairs hospital.
Rodriguez had dropped off his 4-year-old son at day care before starting his work day but forgot the other two in the car. The 39-year-old was charged with manslaughter and criminally neglect homicide.
His lawyer, Joey Jackson, maintains that it was an unfortunate accident.
“He has nothing to hide but to feel misery about what happened in this case,” says Jackson.
In Bronx Criminal Court Thursday, the prosecution announced that no grand jury action has been reached, but that charges could move forward.
Jackson is urging the Bronx District Attorney's Office to drop the case. He says he is “appealing to [DA Darcel Clark’s] sense of justice to do what we believe is the right thing and dismiss these charges.”
Jackson called Rodriguez a devoted family man, a caring social worker and loyal veteran. He says there were 52 hot car deaths in 2018 involving children.
The attorney says the Rodriguez family will be working with lawmakers to push for legislation to prevent another tragedy of this kind.
Rodriguez is due back in court on Aug. 27.