A routine work shift in a small Louisiana city ended in a tragedy that has now put a young mother behind bars. After her 10‑month‑old daughter died in a sweltering car while she worked, prosecutors pushed for prison time, and a judge agreed, handing down a five‑year sentence. The case has shaken Jennings and sparked a wider conversation about how the law should treat parents whose worst mistake costs a child’s life.
At the center of it all is 34‑year‑old Hannah Faith Cormier, a fast‑food worker and single mom who said she forgot her baby was still strapped in the back seat. Investigators and prosecutors saw it differently, describing a series of choices that left an infant alone in heat that climbed toward 140 degrees. Now, as she prepares to serve her time, the community is left weighing grief, anger, and the uncomfortable question of what justice looks like in a case like this.
The sentencing that stunned Jennings
In the city of JENNINGS, a place where people tend to know one another’s business, word of the sentence spread quickly. Hannah Faith Cormier, who is 34 and from Jennings, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide after her 10‑month‑old daughter died from being left in a hot car while she worked. District Judge Steve Gunne ordered her to serve five years in prison, without the safety valves of probation or parole, a clear sign the court viewed her conduct as more than a momentary lapse.
Prosecutors from The Jefferson Davis Parish District Attorney’s Office had already signaled they would seek real prison time, framing the case as a preventable death rather than a freak accident. The Jefferson Davis Parish District Attorney, through the Office, emphasized that a 10‑month‑old had no way to escape the heat or call for help. In court, that framing appeared to resonate. Judge Steve Gunne’s decision to bar probation and parole underscored that, in his view, the criminal negligence did not end when Cormier clocked in for work, it began the moment she closed the car door and walked away.
How a work shift turned deadly
The chain of events started when Cormier brought her baby along as she headed to her job at a fast‑food restaurant in Jennings. According to investigators, she drove to work with the 10‑month‑old in the back seat, then went inside and started her shift, leaving the child in the parked vehicle. Reporting on the case notes that she later told police she had simply forgotten her daughter was still in the car, a claim that became central to how the public tried to make sense of what happened. One account explains that she brought her infant to work on August 13, 2024, then later said she believed she had dropped the child off elsewhere before starting her shift, only realizing the truth when it was far too late, a detail laid out in coverage of Hannah Faith Cormier.
By the time someone checked the car, the baby had been trapped for roughly two hours in brutal heat. Authorities say the interior temperature climbed to around 140 degrees, a level that can overwhelm an adult, let alone an infant strapped into a rear‑facing seat. A report citing the Jefferson Davis Parish Sheriff’s Office describes how the child was rushed from the scene to a hospital but ultimately did not survive, with the sheriff’s Office detailing the 140‑degree conditions and the failed effort to save her. The baby died days later, on Aug. 18, after being kept on life support, a timeline that appears in local coverage of the case in Jennings.
Inside the hot car: what investigators say happened
From the start, investigators zeroed in on the conditions inside the vehicle and how long the baby had been left there. Authorities in Jefferson Davis Parish said the car was sealed, with the windows up, as the infant sat in a rear seat while her mother worked at Wendy’s. A national report on the case notes that the mother “intentionally” left her baby in a sealed car for about two hours while she worked at Wendy’s, with officials in JEFF DAVIS PERISH, La., describing the vehicle as closed up as the temperature climbed toward 140 degrees, details that were laid out in coverage from WKRC.
Another account, citing Jefferson Davis Parish Sheriff’s Office records, explains that the mother was working at a Wendy’s restaurant when the baby was left in the car, and that the interior temperature was estimated at 140 degrees by the time the child was found. That report, written by Julia Marnin, notes that the baby ultimately died at the hospital after being pulled from the overheated vehicle, with the sheriff’s Jefferson Davis Parish Office stressing just how quickly the heat turned deadly. Together, those investigative details painted a picture for jurors and the public of a child left with no ventilation, no water, and no chance.
From arrest to guilty plea
Once the baby died, the case moved quickly from medical emergency to criminal investigation. Deputies interviewed Cormier, gathered surveillance footage, and reconstructed her movements that day, including when she arrived at work and when the car was finally checked. The Jefferson Davis Parish District Attorney’s Office then filed a negligent homicide charge, arguing that her conduct met Louisiana’s legal standard for criminal negligence. The Jefferson Davis Parish District Attorney, through the Jefferson Davis Parish Office, publicly announced the charge and later confirmed that Cormier had entered a guilty plea rather than take her chances at trial.
That plea spared the community a drawn‑out courtroom fight but also locked in a felony conviction that will follow Cormier long after she leaves prison. Local coverage notes that she admitted in court to negligent homicide, acknowledging that her actions, or lack of action, caused her daughter’s death. A separate report on the sentencing explains that District Judge Steve Gunne accepted the plea and then imposed the five‑year term without probation or parole, a detail highlighted in the account of District Judge Steve. For prosecutors, the plea was a way to secure accountability; for the defense, it was likely a bid to limit the risk of an even harsher outcome.
What negligent homicide means in Louisiana
To understand why this case ended in a felony conviction, it helps to look at how Louisiana defines negligent homicide. Under state law, negligent homicide is “the killing of a human being by criminal negligence,” a standard that does not require intent to harm but does require a serious departure from how a reasonable person would act. That definition appears in a broader discussion of Louisiana law that examined how prosecutors use negligent homicide charges in child death cases, including one where a mom went to work at a car dealership in another state while her baby was left in a vehicle, with the explanation of negligent homicide drawn directly from Louisiana statutes.
In Cormier’s case, prosecutors argued that leaving a 10‑month‑old alone in a sealed car for hours while working at Wendy’s met that threshold. They did not have to prove she wanted her child to die, only that her behavior was so careless it became criminal. That framing is consistent with how negligent homicide has been applied in other hot‑car tragedies, where parents or caregivers insist they forgot a child was in the back seat but still face charges because the risk of death in a parked car is so obvious. By pleading guilty, Cormier effectively accepted that her actions fit the law’s definition, even as supporters may still see her as a grieving mother rather than a typical felon.
Prosecutors, the DA, and the community’s grief
Local officials did not treat this as a quiet, behind‑the‑scenes case. The Jefferson Davis Parish District Attorney’s Office issued public statements, and District Attorney Lauren Heinen personally addressed the community’s reaction. In one account, Heinen is quoted describing the death as a tragedy that shook Jennings, while also stressing that her office had a duty to pursue justice for a 10‑month‑old who could not protect herself. That balance between empathy and accountability came through in coverage that noted how Heinen and her team framed the case, with one report on the sentencing in KPLC highlighting her role.
Another local story described how Heinen expressed the community’s sorrow while announcing the five‑year sentence, acknowledging that many residents felt torn between sympathy for Cormier and anger over the baby’s death. That same report noted that the Jennings mother who pleaded guilty would serve her time in state custody, with Heinen emphasizing that the outcome reflected both the law and the community’s values, a point captured in coverage by News Staff. For many in Jennings, the DA’s public comments were a way to process a case that felt both deeply personal and painfully public.
How national outlets framed the story
Once the basic facts were clear, the case quickly drew national attention, in part because it fit into a broader pattern of hot‑car deaths that have made headlines across the country. National crime and human‑interest outlets picked up the story, often focusing on the detail that Cormier was working at Wendy’s while her baby sat outside in a car that reached 140 degrees. One widely shared piece described how the mom left her baby in a hot car as she worked at Wendy’s, killing her, and noted that police viewed the death as a direct result of that decision, a framing that appeared in coverage linked through Mom and Wendy.
Another national report walked through the timeline in more detail, explaining that Cormier brought her infant to work, left her in the car, and later told police she had forgotten the child was there. That account emphasized the emotional fallout, noting that the baby ultimately died at the hospital after being found unresponsive in the vehicle, a detail that appears in the narrative about how the child ultimately died. Together, these national stories tended to present the case as both a cautionary tale and part of a larger, troubling trend of children dying in parked cars while adults are at work or running errands.
Hot‑car deaths and the law’s uneven line
Cases like Cormier’s do not happen in a vacuum. Across the country, prosecutors and judges have wrestled with how to handle parents who leave children in hot cars, sometimes by accident, sometimes after making a series of reckless choices. The Louisiana definition of negligent homicide, which focuses on “criminal negligence,” gives prosecutors room to charge parents even when there is no intent to harm, as long as the behavior is egregious enough. That same legal standard has been cited in other cases, including one where a mom went to work at a car dealership in another state while her baby was left in a vehicle, with the explanation of negligent homicide in Nov coverage underscoring how flexible, and controversial, the charge can be.
In practice, that means some parents face prison while others in similar situations receive probation or no charges at all, depending on local attitudes, the specific facts, and how vocal the community becomes. In Jefferson Davis Parish, officials clearly felt a line had been crossed when a 10‑month‑old was left in a sealed car for hours while her mother worked at Wendy’s. By pursuing a felony conviction and a five‑year sentence without probation or parole, they signaled that, at least in this corner of Louisiana, leaving a child in a hot car is not just a tragic mistake, it is a crime that demands time behind bars.
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