A man who unintentionally ran over his 4-year-old son, killing him more than two years ago, likely avoided prison on Wednesday when he took a last-minute deal offered by Union County prosecutors before a trial was set to begin on Monday. Natividad de Jesus Hernandez, 32, originally was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, involuntary manslaughter, two counts of forgery and leaving the scene of a crash in connection with the death of Angel Gustavo Hernandez on Dec. 26, 2013. He faced as many as 13 years in prison if convicted of all of those charges, which were felonies.

MARYSVILLE, Ohio � A man who unintentionally ran over his 4-year-old son, killing him more than two years ago, likely avoided prison on Wednesday when he took a last-minute deal offered by Union County prosecutors before a trial was set to begin on Monday.

Natividad de Jesus Hernandez, 32, originally was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, involuntary manslaughter, two counts of forgery and leaving the scene of a crash in connection with the death of Angel Gustavo Hernandez on Dec. 26, 2013. He faced as many as 13 years in prison if convicted of all of those charges, which were felonies.

Instead, after some marathon negotiations and in a hearing that didn�t finish until more than four hours after the Union County Common Pleas Court normally closes for the day, Hernandez pleaded guilty to one count of felony forgery and to negligent homicide, a first-degree misdemeanor.

The forgery count stems from the fact that Hernandez, a native of El Salvador, is an undocumented immigrant and gave authorities a forged international driver�s license after the incident that killed his son that day.

Union County Prosecutor David Phillips and Hernandez�s attorneys, Dominic Mango and Scott Culbert, agreed to recommend that Hernandez serve 180 days in county jail and five years of probation.

Judge Don Fraser ordered a pre-sentence investigation and did not set a sentencing date. Hernandez�s immigration and potential deportation issues are matters for federal officials and remain unresolved.

He has been free during much of the past two years after sympathetic church, mission and immigration-rights groups raised money to post his bail, arguing that he was being unfairly prosecuted and had suffered enough. Supporters also raised the funds for a funeral and to send Angel�s body back for burial in his mother�s native land of Guatemala.

But Hernandez was jailed again in November, after immigration officials picked him up for lying about where he was living and continuing to drive without a license. Fraser revoked any remaining chance at bail in case immigration officials released him and ordered Hernandez returned to the Tri-County Jail in Mechanicsburg.

Angel � whose Sunday school teacher described him at his funeral as the kindest, most polite child in his class, and whose most precious treasures amassed in his short life were his Transformers and his soccer ball � died after he fell out of the open sliding door of his father�s Chevrolet Venture van as Hernandez pulled away from a housing-development construction site on Brock Road in Plain City. He admitted that he had been digging through the garbage looking for scrap materials to sell.

Authorities maintain Hernandez was stealing; his attorneys say he had a right to be there. Nevertheless, when a vehicle of someone he didn�t know pulled in, he piled the three children he had with him back into the van and backed out of the driveway, and Angel fell out and was pulled under the wheels.

The case has dragged on, in part, because Hernandez would not accept prior deals.

�He obviously still is mourning. You don�t get over that,� Mango said of his client. �He would not admit to anything that said this was an intentional act. It was a horrible, tragic accident and nothing more.�

But prosecutors see it differently.

Phillips said he believes he could have gotten a conviction on the charges, but said the case was fraught with legal peril and nuances that are tricky to navigate.

No one disputes that Angel was not in a booster seat as required by law. And no one disputes the van door either never was completely closed at all or slid open after being improperly closed � two older children belonging to Hernandez�s girlfriend at the time were also in the vehicle � as he pulled from that driveway.

But the law doesn�t allow the fact that a child wasn�t properly restrained to even be mentioned as a basis for a criminal charge, let alone used as evidence. And though the general public might not care about the difference between the definitions of �recklessness� and �negligence,� they matter significantly in court.

So in a case filled with sympathetic emotion and legal land mines, Phillips lessened the charges and offered the deal.

�My job is to see that justice is done, and justice must be tempered with mercy. I realize he has suffered a great loss,� he said. �But someone had to stand up for that child. I know this wasn�t intentional, but if the child had been buckled in this wouldn�t have happened. It was important to me that Mr. Hernandez pay a price for his actions.�

The case was further complicated by the fact that when the incident happened, every official who first showed up � the deputy sheriff and the medical crew � left the scene.

The deputy was a trained paramedic, and he jumped in the short-staffed ambulance to try and save Angel on the way to the hospital. That left Hernandez and the other two children alone by the side of the road for several minutes. It was all caught on dash-camera video by the deputy�s cruiser that remained idling there in the middle of the road.

Hernandez clearly looked confused as to what to do on the video, and he eventually loaded up the other children and left, showing up at OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital two hours later. His boy was long dead by then.

None of that was lost on Judge Fraser on Wednesday.

�This has been a difficult case and for what it�s worth, Mr. Hernandez, this court believes you made a good decision tonight,� Fraser said. �And you need to know that all of us are sorry for the loss of your son.�

hzachariah@dispatch.com

@hollyzachariah