Kansas authorities said foster father Seth Jackson bought drugs when he left his daughter in the back of his vehicle, resulting in her death on July 24.
Jackson reportedly abandoned his 10-month-old Anna in her carseat, claiming to have forgotten to take her out of it, NBC News reported.
District Attorney Marc Bennett revealed that Jackson had taken his 5-year-old son to an appointment, and shortly after, made a stop to purchase marijuana. He then picked up Anna from a babysitter's house, only to neglect her hours later.
Earlier accounts reported that Jackson remembered leaving his daughter in the car almost two hours after arriving back at his home. He had been using marijuana consistently during that two-hour window. By the time he had gone back, she was already dead, KSN stated.
Jackson has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held on $250,000 bail, an increased amount due to his added drug charges. The judge was not willing to negotiate the charges.
John Stang, one of Jackson's lawyers, claims that the 10-month-old girl's death was an accident.
"Overcharged, in my opinion," Stang said. "Rather high for a mistake. I'm not trying to say it's not a horrible loss. The death of a child is an awful thing. But this person is looking at 15 more years than someone who was driving drunk and ran into a car and killed someone," he told NBC News.
