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Mid-State Mom Goes on Trial for Heat-Stroke Death of Sons

CLEVELAND, Tenn. (AP) — Jury selection is scheduled to begin for a Bradley County woman charged with murder in the heat-related deaths of her young sons.

The Cleveland Daily Banner (http://bit.ly/17ex4bk ) reported lawyers were set to begin picking a jury on Tuesday to hear the case against Natasha Bates-Moses. She is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of 3-year-old River Bates and his 5-year-old brother, Leland. They died July 13, 2012.

Autopsy results revealed the boys died of hyperthermia, or a high core body temperature.

In addition to the murder charges, Bates-Moses is also charged with aggravated child neglect and methamphetamine counts.

She has said she left the boys outside for 45 minutes on a water toy, but investigators believe they were trapped in a confined space on that 101-degree day.