Oregon Justice Department officials decided to drop a child neglect citation against a Deschutes County deputy district attorney who forgot his toddler son in the back seat of his car for five hours in May.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Kurt Miller wrote Tuesday in a letter to district attorney John Hummel that a review of the case by his office found that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove prosecutor Evander McIver’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

It doesn’t appear McIver had forgotten a child in a car before or that he’d be more likely than the average person to forget a child, the letter said.

“In light of those facts, while Mr. McIver’s conduct created a risk of harm to his child, we could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. McIver’s failure to recognize the risk that he would forget his child was a gross deviation from the standard of care exercised by a reasonable person,” Miller said.

Bend police found McIver’s 18-month-old son asleep in his carseat in the father’s parked car on May 31, according to the district attorney’s office in June. McIver had apparently forgotten the child when he went to work. According to Weather Underground, temperatures in the Bend area that day peaked at 82 degrees and the day average was 65 degrees.

The toddler wasn’t hurt. Police cited McIver for second-degree child neglect and referred the case to the Oregon Department of Justice for review.

McIver was placed on administrative leave amid the state’s investigation. The district attorney’s office said he was scheduled to return to work Wednesday.

McIver said in a statement in June that a change in his morning routine led to him dropping off his two other children at school as usual, but forgetting that he also had his son still in the back seat.

He said he was thankful to Bend police, described the lapse as “the worst mistake of my life,” and that he realized that it could have ended differently.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.