Dad was distracted by porn when daughter died in hot car

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Arizona father accused of abandoning his baby die in a hot car playing video games and searching for pornography while she was dead.

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Christopher Scholtes, 38, allegedly watched X-rated videos, played video games and drank beer while his youngest daughter Parker, 2, was left asleep in the 2003 scorching heat. Acura more than three hours July 9, 2024

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According to the criminal complaint obtained People magazine.

Sholts' trial will begin on October 27. He faces charges of first-degree murder and intentional child abuse.

The prosecution had intended to present evidence at trial of Scholtes' alleged search for pornography, but Judge Kimberly Ortiz rejected that request.

According to the judge, “the State is not entitled to receive any evidence in the underlying case that the defendant searched for pornography on the PlayStation before [his daughter’s] body found.”

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She added that any witnesses called by prosecutors to testify during the trial also “are not permitted to mention the defendant's two-minute search for pornography on the Playstation on July 9, 2024.”

The husband and father of three initially claimed that after they returned home from shopping around 12:30 p.m., he didn't want to wake the sleeping girl so he left her in the car with the air conditioning on.

But court records later showed he passed out from video games until his wife Erica arrived home at 4 p.m. and found the child unconscious in her car.

The girl was taken to Banner University Medical Center – the hospital where her mother worked as an anesthesiologist – where she was pronounced dead.

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The distracted father later reportedly admitted that he knew the car's engine would automatically shut off after 30 minutes.

Scholtes' two other daughters told officers that their father would sometimes leave them alone in the car while he was “distracted by playing his game and putting away food,” according to police reports.

It was later discovered that the distracted father also left the 2-year-old alone in the car while he went to a gas station and grocery store, where surveillance footage allegedly showed him stealing cans of beer, the criminal complaint said.

Court documents show messages sent to Scholtes from his wife revealed his alleged neglect.

“I told you to stop leaving them in the car,” the devastated mother said during the conversation in which she called their youngest daughter “perfect.”

– How many times have I told you?

He later responded, apologizing and allegedly admitting that he “killed our child.”

Despite the murder charges, Scholtes' wife supported her husband, calling the tragedy a “big mistake.”

Earlier this year, Judge Ortiz ruled that Scholtes could go to Hawaii with your family before the court.

Scholtes previously rejected a plea deal and pleaded not guilty to both charges.

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