Man says no to trial in death of grandson

Edward Kanterman just wanted the nightmare to end.

Yesterday, against his attorney's advice, the Lansdowne man charged with accidentally killing his 14-month-old grandson by leaving him locked in a broiling SUV decided not to go to trial.

Kanterman, 59, pleaded "no contest" - which has the same legal effect as a guilty plea - to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to three years' probation and 200 hours of community service.

"His sentence has already been imposed by what's happening every day," said his lawyer, Eugene Bonner. He said that Kanterman regularly visits his grandson's grave. "You couldn't punish this guy any more."

Authorities say that Kanterman picked up Nicholas McCorkle on the morning of June 10 and was supposed to drop him off at a Drexel Hill day-care center. But he forgot that the toddler was in his Ford Explorer and went straight to work at CHI Institute, in Broomall, where he taught from 8:05 a.m. to 1:25 p.m.

Nicholas was strapped into the car seat the whole time - while the truck's interior temperature soared well above 100 degrees - and was unconscious and barely breathing when Kanterman returned. The tot died four days later at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Nicholas' mother, Rebecca Kanterman, 21, said that she did not blame her father for the "mistake" and did not want authorities to press charges. Neither did the rest of the family.

Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green overruled their wishes. "Who is the voice of a 14-month-old child?" Green asked, in announcing the charges in June. "We are that voice."

"I think that everybody is glad that it's resolved, as opposed to litigating it and having the whole family have to relive that day," said Sheldon Kovach, the deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case.

Kanterman "wanted to end it today," Bonner said.

If the case had gone to trial, Bonner said, he would have argued that Kanterman never displayed "gross negligence," or a willful or conscious disregard for the risk to his grandson.

"There wasn't anything willful about it," he said. "He forgot the baby was in the car."