PARIS – The parents of a baby left alone in a car at Wal-Mart in Oxford last November have agreed to continue counseling and refrain from criminal conduct in exchange for dismissal of a child endangerment charge in one year.

Christopher Butts, 22, and Jessica Smith, 21, both of Poland, accepted the deferred settlement of the case after pleading guilty Monday in 11th District Court, according to court records.

Butts and Smith were charged with child endangerment after leaving their 2-week-old baby unattended in their car the morning of Nov. 15, 2006. The couple had taken the infant into the store with them, returned to the car and then left the baby alone while they both returned to the store. A concerned passer-by called police.

Under the agreement, Butts and Smith must refrain from criminal conduct, maintain counseling to the satisfaction of the Department of Health and Human Services, and waive the confidentiality of reports to ensure compliance with the order.

A note on the agreement states that successful completion will allow the couple to withdraw their plea and result in the state’s dismissing the complaint. Butts and Smith will appear in district court again March 18, 2008.

Butts said in a January interview that they had taken the infant into the store, but left it in the car when they went back in to get something he forgot and for Smith to use the bathroom. He said he was running late for work, also.

Butts and Smith said they didn’t know leaving an infant alone in a car – even for just a couple of minutes – was illegal.

“We weren’t thinking,” Butts said.