ORLANDO, Fla. _ One by one, Logan Starling's family members made tearful appeals to a judge to not accept a plea deal that avoided jail time for the woman who last September left the 4-year-old boy inside a hot SUV in the parking lot of Elite Preparatory Academy, where he died.
It worked.
Mariah Butler, 27, was set to serve only five years of probation in exchange for pleading guilty to neglect of a child, but Circuit Judge Keith F. White rejected the deal after the family members made victim impact statements during the hearing. Logan's family members gasped after White announced his decision and said later they were grateful the plea was not accepted.
White said the attorneys can try to work out a different plea deal. If not, the case is scheduled to go to trial in December.
Roy Werner, Logan's great-grandfather, said the plea rejected Wednesday would not have been "justice for Logan."
"This is injustice," he told White. "He's gone, he'll never be back. I feel this plea bargain is a slap in the face to the family. It's nothing more than an inconvenience to (Butler)."
Logan's grandfather, Terrie Squires, said he would rather prosecutors go to trial and lose than accept the deal, which was a "slap in the face" to Logan.
"If this is all she gets, go ahead and put a sign out that says, 'Leave your kids out in a hot car. You'll only get five years probation in the state of Florida.' "
Family members also expressed concern that Butler, who is engaged to Logan's father, was still caring for his sister Autumn. Squires said Butler still has the SUV in which Logan died and drives it with the kids, including Autumn, inside.
"You think she looks at the seat where Logan died and doesn't think about him?" Squires said.
Butler showed little emotion throughout the hearing until she briefly addressed the court.
"I just want to make it clear (that) I love all my children," she said fighting back tears. "I tried my hardest ... I put all of their needs before mine."
Her attorney, Corey Cohen, said the incident was an accident and Butler was remorseful.
Butler arrived at the school just before 8:30 a.m. Sept. 28, 2018, with Logan, his sister and Butler's three children. She told investigators she told the kids to wait in the SUV so she could get an Amazon package from her mother, who also had a child attending the school and was in the parking lot.
Butler said she went back to her vehicle and let the kids out. She claimed she saw Logan, who was in the far back, get out and she led him and the other children inside the school, where the kids went to breakfast and she went to the school office, where she worked.
But surveillance video showed Logan never got out of the SUV.
A school administrator told investigators she asked Butler where Logan was shortly after 10 a.m., but Butler replied that he was "around here somewhere." It wasn't until four hours later, when another school employee asked about Logan, that Butler ran out to the vehicle to find him unconscious.
He was later pronounced dead.
On Wednesday, Logan's great-grandmother Mary Squires said she thinks Logan could have survived if Butler had checked on him when the school administrator asked about him. She said Logan's ashes sit on the mantle in the living room of their home while Butler goes on with her life.
"She has her kids every day," Squires said. "We'll never have Logan back. He is gone."
