A North Carolina woman has been sentenced to a prison term ranging from nearly eight to about ten and a half years for leaving her two young daughters in a hot car, resulting in their deaths. Launice Shanique Battle was handed down the sentence by Wake County Superior Court Judge Rebecca W. Holt after she pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder in connection with the 2022 deaths of her children, 3-year-old Amora Milbourne and 2-year-old Trinity Milbourne.
Battle had initially faced two counts of felony murder, which could have resulted in a maximum sentence of over 80 years. However, she reached a plea deal with prosecutors, agreeing to plead guilty to a lesser charge. The court credited Battle with 667 days already served and did not find any aggravating factors that could have increased her sentence. Instead, Battle’s willingness to accept responsibility for her actions was considered a mitigating factor, leading to a reduced sentence.
The tragic incident occurred on August 27, 2022, when Battle left her daughters in a car for approximately six hours while she visited an internet casino. Responding to a call about the suspicious deaths of two young girls, Raleigh Police Department officers arrived at Duke Raleigh Hospital around 9:38 p.m. The girls were pronounced dead that evening, and Battle was arrested the following morning.
The county medical examiner’s autopsy revealed that both girls died from hyperthermia, a condition that occurs when the body absorbs or generates more heat than it can release. The report stated that the girls were left in a vehicle parked behind a gambling establishment from approximately 2:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The weather that day was hot, with a high temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
The autopsy report also noted that the girls had no body temperature when they were discovered and were already in the early stages of decomposition. Despite these tragic circumstances, Battle’s cousin, Keisha Harris, defended her, stating that Battle was not a bad mother but had made a “careless mistake.”
However, records from the Wake County Department of Health and Human Services revealed that Child Protective Services had opened investigations into Battle three times between 2019 and 2022. The most recent investigation occurred less than two months before the girls’ deaths.