Tracey Nix found not guilty of aggravated manslaughter, guilty of leaving child in car unattended

Tracey Nix was found not guilty Wednesday of aggravated manslaughter and guilty of leaving a child in a car unattended.

After the verdict, Nix was taken into custody. She will be held in jail without bond until sentencing.

She will be sentenced on Thursday, April 3.

Case against Tracey Nix

The backstory:

Prosecutors say Nix left Uriel Schock in the car after returning to her Hardee County home from lunch with friends on Nov. 1, 2022.

Temperatures reached the 90s that afternoon before the baby was removed from the car.

Image courtesy of Kaila Nix.

Image courtesy of Kaila Nix.

Uriel was the second grandchild to die while in Nix's care. In December 2021, 16-month-old Ezra died after he opened doors, went under a fence and wandered into a pond outside Nix's Wauchula home, according to deputies.

PREVIOUS: Wauchula woman arrested in granddaughter’s death after 2021 death of grandson

No charges were filed in that case, and the judge ruled it will not be mentioned at trial.

No testimony from Nix

Attorneys gave closing arguments on Wednesday morning after Tracey Nix declined to testify on her own behalf.

Pictured: Tracey Nix in court on Wednesday.

Pictured: Tracey Nix in court on Wednesday.

Emotional testimony on Tuesday

What they're saying:

Attorneys gave opening statements Tuesday morning.

"We are here today and for the next few days not to determine if Tracey Nix was a good person, we want to focus on her actions, inactions and results of her actions," said Assistant State Attorney Timothy Coleman.

"She’s a former teacher, principal and a church member who just made a mistake," said Nix's attorney, William Fletcher. "It was a tragedy that does not amount to a crime under Florida law."

Pictured: Tracey Nix in court Tuesday.

Pictured: Tracey Nix in court Tuesday.

Prosecutors then called more than a dozen witnesses to testify. Tracey's daughter, Kaila Nix, became emotional when talking about having to identify her daughter's body on the evening of Nov. 1, 2022.

Pictured: Kaila Nix on the stand Tuesday.

Pictured: Kaila Nix on the stand Tuesday.

"It was sheer anxiety," Kaila Nix said, appearing to hold back tears.

Friends who met Tracey Nix for lunch that day also testified Tuesday morning, saying they've known her for decades and she was a loving grandmother.

911 call

What we know:

Tracey Nix's daughter and baby Uriel's aunt, Rebecca Tucker, arrived at her parents' Wauchula home on the afternoon of Nov. 1, 2022, and found a frantic scene as the baby's grandfather was giving her CPR.

Photo of Uriel Schock. (Courtesy: Kaila Nix.)

Photo of Uriel Schock. (Courtesy: Kaila Nix.)

"Her eyes are open, she’s not moving or breathing," Tucker said during the call, which jurors heard Tuesday.

"Mom, how long has she been in the car?" asked Tucker.

"A while," Nix responded.

Bodycam video

On Tuesday afternoon, jurors also watched bodycam video from a Hardee County detective.

"I don’t want to face anybody. I can’t face my daughter. I can not do that," Nix told investigators in the video.

Detectives then took Nix to the sheriff’s office, where they questioned her.

Reaction:

Her daughter, Uriel's mother, Kaila Nix, reacted to the verdict.

"I was relieved to hear there was going to be accountability and ownership and a conclusion to this part of the story," said Kaila Nix. 

She adds though that she struggles with the exclusion of the other part of the story--her son, 16-month-old Ezra, who drowned while in his grandmother's care the prior year. The judge ruled his death was not to be mentioned during the trial.

"I continue to look for answers to what happened in that case and why that case was not worthy of prosecution at that time, so we're going to go back to the state and have a few more conversations to see," said Kaila Nix.

Nix's defense attorney, Bill Fletcher, says the jury did their job. He plans on appealing and using expert testimony that couldn't be brought up in trial that states Nix was taking double the dose of Ambien she was supposed to.

"She's very well-known and well respected, and it was the medication, really," said Fletcher. 

As far as how Uriel's family plans to move forward...

"We have our son, Asher. She just had a newborn, and she's fixing to be five months old. We focus on those and building," said Drew Schock, Uriel's father. "We're always going to be thinking of our children, and I'm not going to hurt them. It's a day at a time."

The Source: This story was written using information from courtroom testimony and previous FOX 13 reports.

STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA:

Hardee CountyPolk CountyCrime and Public Safety