BALTIMORE — This week Wilbert Carter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and confining a child unattended.
He was accused of leaving his 2-year-old child unattended in a locked car for 16 hours. Special Victims Unit Chief Anne Colt Leitess prosecuted the case.
According to investigators, Carter voluntarily left his sister’s home with his two-year-old daughter around midnight on June 22, 2015 heavily intoxicated, parked his car in the 3700 block of Brenden Avenue, and staggered to a woman’s porch where he passed out.
The woman told investigators that she heard knocking at her door at 3:00 a.m. but did not answer her door. At 7:00 a.m., she discovered Carter passed out on her porch smelling of alcohol. After she awakened Carter, she drove him to his home where he slept until 4:00 p.m. When Carter awoke, he realized his daughter was missing and ran back to his car, where he found his daughter deceased—still strapped in her car seat.
“Children are our most precious gifts and I’m sure there is nothing that can ever fill the void in the lives of those who loved and cared for two-year-old Leasia Carter,” State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said. “This was a tragic case where the life of this child was lost in the care of the one that gave her life, and I commend Special Victims Unit Chief Anne Colt Leitess for ensuring that justice was done on this little girl’s behalf.”
