A year in jail is the maximum sentence possible for an Apple Valley man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter for leaving his 4-year-old alone for hours in a hot SUV with the window cracked while he worked an event in downtown St. Paul.
Kristopher A. Taylor, 26, pleaded guilty this week in Ramsey County District Court to second-degree manslaughter in connection with the death on May 4 of Riley Taylor.
In exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed that Taylor would serve six months to a year in jail or the county workhouse, be on probation for 10 years and undergo a parenting evaluation.
How much time Taylor should serve will be determined during sentencing on Oct. 11 before Judge Robert Awsumb.
Kristopher Taylor, while working at Minnesota Monthly's eighth annual GrillFest at CHS Field, had parked his SUV at the ballpark of the St. Paul Saints in a spot that was "entirely exposed" to the elements, according to the criminal complaint.
Taylor said he last checked on Riley about 11:30 a.m. Saturday and returned about 5:15 p.m. after work to find the boy unresponsive. He took the boy to St. Paul's Regions Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The temperature over the time period ranged from 70 degrees under partly cloudy skies around noon to 64 and mostly cloudy conditions at 5 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. The Medical Examiner's Office ruled preliminarily that Riley died from hyperthermia.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
