Before his trial later this year, an Arizona father who is accused of killing his daughter was allowed to go on vacation with his family. ...
Before his trial later this year, an Arizona father who is accused of killing his daughter was allowed to go on vacation with his family.
PEOPLE got a copy of court records from Pima County Superior Court that show Christopher Scholtes, 38, asked to be able to go to Hawaii with his wife and two girls from May 1 to May 9.
Judge Kimberly Ortiz agreed to hear arguments on the issue in an order filed on April 3. After a hearing on April 15, she decided to grant Scholtes' request.
A preliminary complaint seen by PEOPLE says that Scholtes' 2-year-old daughter died after he reportedly left her in his car alone while he played video games. The trip happened 10 months after the death.
The lawsuit says that his wife found the toddler three hours later when she got home and found the toddler asleep in the car.
The lawsuit says that the temperature inside the car at that time was 109 degrees.
Scholtes supposedly told detectives from the Marana Police Department that he left his daughter asleep in her car seat while he ran errands that day. The air conditioning was on.
Scholtes told police that he knew his car's engine would turn off by itself after 30 minutes, according to the charge.
The two daughters Scholtes still had, who were 6 and 9 years old at the time, are said to have told detectives that their father had left them alone in the car for long amounts of time before.
Scholtes and his wife are said to have texted each other, with Scholtes' wife writing, "I told you to stop leaving them in the car. How many times have I told you?"
Scholtes was charged with first-degree murder and intentional child abuse after the Pima County Attorney's Office looked over the proof in the case.
Scholtes pleaded not guilty to both charges at his hearing. According to court records, in March, he turned down a deal from prosecutors that would have dropped one of the charges against him to second-degree murder if he agreed to plead guilty.
Just a few days after turning down the plea deal, Scholtes asked the court for leave to go to Maui with his wife and children who were still alive from May 1 to May 9.
Judge Ortiz said in her order allowing the request that Scholtes would still have to follow all the rules of his parole. She made it clear that he had to keep in touch with pretrial services during his trip and not have any unsupervised contact with children, not even his own.
Then, prosecutors asked the court to tell Scholtes to give up his passport before he went to Hawaii, which is about 3,000 miles away. Ortiz turned down their request, as shown in court records.
KOLD was the first to report that Scholtes' request to go to Hawaii with his family had been granted by the court.
His murder trial was supposed to start in September, but it was pushed back to October 27.
Scholtes could get life in jail if he is found guilty.
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