Mother says she was too stupid to know that her children would die

A MICHIGAN judge has reduced the charges against a mother who left her two children in a sweltering car for three hours while she got her hair done, saying she did not intend for them to die.

Tarajee Maynor told police in a written statement that she was “too stupid” to know they could be harmed, an detective testified yesterday. Judge Stephen Cooper ordered Maynor to stand trial in Southfield on two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of her 10-month-old daughter and three-year-old son.

She was originally charged with murder and child abuse. “To the ordinary mind, the result of the actions of the defendant were likely to prove disastrous,” Cooper said. “In her mind, this was not the case.” The woman’s lawyer, Elbert Hatchett, had argued that his client was “grossly negligent, grossly stupid, grossly ignorant,” but she did not deserve to be charged with murder.