Woman found not guilty of manslaughter in hot car death, guilty on lesser charge

POLK COUNTY, Fla. — A Hardee County woman was found not guilty of aggravated manslaughter but has been found guilty of leaving a child unattended in a vehicle for more than 15 minutes.

The jury reached the verdict in the case of Tracey Nix, 67, of Hardee County. She left her 7-month-old granddaughter in a hot car, where the baby died. As the ABC Action News I-Team first revealed nearly two years ago, this is the second grandchild to die under Tracey Nix's care.

Watch as verdict is read in Tracey Nix trial:

Prosecutors said Kaila Nix, Tracey's daughter, had gone to get her hair done that day and had asked her mom, Tracey, to babysit. That day, temperatures in Wauchula reached 90 degrees. Her mom's Lexus SUV was parked in the yard with the windows rolled up.

When one of Tracey's grandsons arrived, the complaint affidavit said that "all of a sudden," it "came across her head" that Uriel had been in the SUV all afternoon. Her husband, Nun Ney Nix, immediately began CPR.

ABC Action News was inside the courtroom as the verdict was read.

There were tears throughout the courtroom. We spoke with Kaila minutes after seeing her mother put in handcuffs.

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"The daughter in me had a very hard time with her being taken, and I ended up stepping aside for that moment, and it isn't something that I would ever call a win for me. It is a win for justice for my daughter," Kaila said "The destruction that has come from this process is pretty unfathomable as well. You know, my kids are dead but I've lost a lot more."

We spoke to Tracey's attorney, William Fletcher, about the jury's decision.

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"They did their job. they did not convict her of the aggravated manslaughter or manslaughter, which was a win, they had no choice on count 2, I don't know how sophisticated you are with the counts, but I never argued against count 2 because I had nothing to argue," Fletcher said.

Fletcher said they do plan to appeal.

Tracey Nix could face up to 6 years in prison, but Fletcher said they will file a motion to go below the sentencing guidelines.

The sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 3.

This is a developing story and will be updated