Jury finds mother, boyfriend guilty of leaving disabled daughter to die in hot car
COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — A South Carolina mother and her boyfriend were found guilty on Friday of leaving her disabled daughter to die in a hot car.
In closing statements for the state, Solicitor Duffie Stone said the two tortured Rita Pangalangan's 13-year-old daughter Cristina by leaving her to die in Pangalangan's car for five hours and 41 minutes.
Pangalangan was sentenced to 37 years for murder and 20 years for great bodily injury. Larry King Jr. was sentenced to 32 years for murder and 20 years for great bodily injury. The sentences are to be served concurrently.
Stone said the wheelchair-dependent, non-verbal girl from Colleton County suffered inside her own mother's car after being left there to die on a hot day in Aug. 2019.
"It's well over 115 degrees in that car. They come back out and do they check on it? No, what do they do? They hug, they kiss and then they go back inside for another hour and 15 minutes. The child is literally cooking to death in the car," Stone said.
Stone said they both had total disregard for Cristina’s life and abandoned her time and time again.
Cristina was totally dependent on Rita for all of those things every day. Not just on Rita's good days," he said. "On that day, on that weekend, we know they were on a meth bender."Both Pangalangan and King's attorneys said they had thought the air conditioning was running and Cristina’s death was a terrible accident.
"This case is a lot of things but it's not murder," said Pangalangan's defense attorney Dayne Phillips.
"This never should have happened the way it did but Mr. King didn't kill anybody," said King's defense attorney Gil Gatch.
But solicitor Stone said being high on meth is not a defense in South Carolina.
"That child is dead, and what did she do? She went inside and abandoned her child again," Stone said.
Cristina’s sister Elizabeth Clyde took the stand to say Rita was a good mother. She talked about how the three of them were close and there was a plan in place for Clyde to become the primary caretaker of Cristina.
"My mom she loved Cristina so much. She's a good mom. She would often say God created her to be Cristina's mom because she was tough and could handle it and she loved Cristina so much. She loved her so much," Clyde said.
It took the jury about two hours and 25 minutes to deliver its verdict.
Rita's attorney says they are planning to file an appeal.
ncG1vNJzZmivmpawtcKNnKamZ56axLR7zZqroqeeYsSwvsudZqOtoq56p7XNnapmpZ%2Bptaa%2BjJumsp6inrKvsIygrKKkpK56sLKMpZyarpmjtG6wyKyYm6SVmXqlrdSgn62domLBsHnDopxmoZ5itbDAjJyYq2WinsGiec%2BapaCZnJa7qK3NZqOaqqKueqy1zaBko6pdqLy2wMdmmpqqn6G2r62MnKalpJWpvK95wqisp6ypYn5ygYydnKCqlZp6pa3YZp%2BorF2YrrN5w56YraA%3D