Jury in toddler’s death to return Monday

A jury was sent home Friday evening after deliberating all day and not reaching a verdict in the trial of two parents charged with murder for leaving their 4-year-old disabled son in an SUV for at least 17 hours in June 2008.

Stanley and Colleen Rimer are charged with second-degree murder in the death of Jason Rimer. They also face charges of child abuse and neglect; they are accused of physically abusing four of their eight children and letting them live in squalor.

The jury will continue deliberations Monday . If convicted, the defendants could face sentences of 10 years to life.

Jason Rimer was left in the vehicle about 2 p.m. June 8, 2008, after returning home from church with his mother and several siblings. The temperature inside the vehicle is estimated to have reached 130 degrees on that 90-degree day.

Jason suffered from myotonic dystrophy, a genetic muscular disorder that crippled his body and mind. He was unable to unlock car doors. He died from heat stress, which could have taken three to five hours.

The boy's father, Stanley Rimer, has maintained he was unaware that Jason had been locked in the car. He was ill that day and left church before the rest of his family. He spent the rest of the day in the master bedroom.

Colleen Rimer told Las Vegas police that she was the only person responsible for the disabled boy.

Prosecutors have argued that the parents exhibited a pattern of neglect that was bound to lead to tragedy.