21/04/2025
Parents Who Left 2-Year-Old in Hot Car While Sibling Was Hospitalized for Neglect Sentenced to 70 Years in Prison
Arkansas couple Deja and Justin Rollins pled guilty to murder after their 2-year-old son died when he was left in a hot car along with three of their other children in July 2024
By Charlotte Phillipp
According to a statement from Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Will Jones, Deja Rollins, 28, and Justin Rollins, 30, both pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree domestic battery on Friday, April 18.
A Little Rock judge sentenced the couple to 70 years in prison, Jones said.
The couple was arrested in July 2024, after their 3-year-old was taken to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock for "urgent medical treatment," and their other children — ages 2, 4, 7 and 10 —were left locked in a car in the hospital parking lot. The youngest child, Jay’Dien Rollins, died the next day.
According to local outlets KARK and KATV, the couple's domestic battery charge stems from the child abuse and neglect case that brought their 3-year-old to the hospital in the first place.
"This case is one of the most disturbing and heartbreaking our office has ever encountered," Jones wrote in a statement. "Protecting children is the top priority of this office. There is no greater responsibility, and we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that those who harm a child are held fully accountable."