text: A Connecticut judge spared today a father from prison time in the death of the young son he left in a car on a hot day, saying the man had suffered enough. Kyle Seitz, 37, of Ridgefield, received two years of conditional release, a sentence similar to probation, at the hearing in Danbury Superior Court after his lawyer read aloud a letter written by his wife asking the judge for leniency on his behalf. Authorities say Seitz forgot to take his 15-month-old son, Benjamin, to day care on the morning of July 7, 2014, and left him in the car for seven hours while he went to work. Scroll down for video . Spared: A Connecticut judge spared Kyle Seitz, pictured in court in November, from prison time in the July death of his 15-month-old son, Benjamin (right) whom he left in a hot car . Temperatures that day soared into the upper 80s. Co-workers at Owl Computer Technologies said Seitz spent the day working as usual, even making a trip in the car to a sandwich shop, not realizing Benjamin was still buckled up in the backseat, according to the arrest warrant. It was not until Seitz drove to his son's day care at the end of the work day to pick him up that he realized Ben was dead in the back of his Jeep Cherokee. The software programmer told the authorities that he 'felt shock and terror' when he discovered that his son was in the back seat 'motionless'. After discovering Benjamin lying unresponsive on the car's back seat, he rushed the toddler to Danbury Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Benjamin died as a result of hyperthermia due to environmental exposure. Just weeks after Benjamin's death, the child's mother said she forgave her husband of 12 years. In anticipation of her husband's sentencing Thursday, Lindsey Rogers-Seitz wrote a letter that was read aloud in court pleading for leniency. Plea for mercy: Lindsey Rogers-Seitz (left) had her husband's lawyer read in court a letter she had written to the judge asking him for leniency and compassion for her husband . Daddy's boy: Rogers-Seitz wrote that her husband and their son enjoyed a very close bond, and the little boy was the apple of his dad's eye . 'It is with my greatest respect, your honor, that I ask this of you today — for compassion and leniency in sentencing my husband. For him to be released to be with his family, so that we can finally be at peace to grieve and heal together,' she wrote in the letter read by her attorney. Seitz pleaded guilty March 10 to criminally negligent homicide under an Alford plea, in which he did not admit guilt but agreed the prosecution had enough evidence to convict him at trial. He had been facing up to a year in prison. When asked if he wanted to say a few words, Kyle Seitz thanked all of his family's supporters. 'I cannot punish him more than this event has punished him, nor would I choose to do so,' Judge Kevin Russo said, according to WCBS. Seitz, who has two other children, has been free on bail. His wife and two daughters moved to Colorado following Benjamin's death and Seitz is now free to join them. In the wife's emotional letter, published in full on her personal blog, The Gift of Ben, Lindsey Rodgers-Seitz, a lawyer by trade, wrote that she fell in love with Kyle at first sight, and that the tragedy that rocked their family last year did not change the way she feels about her husband. 'My love for him is based on the fact that he is the most good-hearted, the kindest and most loving man I have ever met,' the wife said in her statement. 'He is not an average father or even a good father…he is an amazing father.' Parent's worst nightmare: Seitz, a software programmer, told the authorities that he 'felt shock and terror' when he discovered that his son was in the back seat 'motionless' She then went on to describe Ben and Kyle's close bond, and how her husband, blessed with what she called a 'magic touch' with kids, would rock his son to sleep and run to him when he cried. 'Ben was a daddy's boy all the way... they were inseparable,' Mrs Roger-Seitz recalled. After explaining her husband's decision to take a plea deal last month - the family sought to avoid a an emotionally draining, drawn-out trial - the grieving wife and mother concluded her blog entry Thursday on a hopeful note. 'My takeaway from all of this, which I hope to guide my life as I move forward is simply - love wins. That's it. Very simple.'
target: Kyle Seitz, 37, of Connecticut, entered a so-called Alford plea in which he didn't admit guilt but agreed there was enough evidence to convict him .
  Seitz forgot to take son Benjamin to daycare last July and accidentally left him in the car for more than seven hours while he went to work, he says .
  He returned to the car during the day and drove to get lunch, not realizing the toddler was in the backseat .
  Wife Lindsey Rogers-Seitz wrote in a letter asking for leniency that her husband is an amazing father .