J.
10-27-2004, 06:47 AM
Follow up on an earlier post from an event in my hometown.
J.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/local/10022864.htm?1c
18-year-old admits strangling newborn
Prosecutors request 10-year sentence for mother
BY MARIE McCAIN
Pioneer Press
An 18-year-old White Bear Lake woman admitted as part of a plea agreement this
week to strangling her newborn son.
Amanda Holly Anderson, appearing Monday before Ramsey County District Judge
Teresa Warner, pleaded guilty to second-degree unintentional murder. In
exchange for her plea, prosecutors dismissed a charge of second-degree
intentional murder that could have earned her more than 25 years in prison and
agreed to ask the judge to sentence Anderson to 10 years in prison.
She could spend nearly seven years in prison, with the rest served on
supervised release, officials said. Sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 8.
On May 6, White Bear police went to Anderson's home after one of Anderson's
friends told them she was concerned about Anderson and her baby.
According to a criminal complaint, police found the infant's body, wrapped in a
shirt and placed in a white plastic bag, inside a clothes hamper in Anderson's
room.
Anderson told police she gave birth to the baby in the bathroom and that it was
stillborn. But an autopsy determined the child was born alive and his injuries
were consistent with "three to five minutes of continued pressure on the neck,"
the complaint stated.
Anderson told a friend she hid her pregnancy because she didn't want her family
to know, the charges alleged.
Her defense attorney could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner said Tuesday the plea was offered because
prosecutors would have had a hard time proving the baby was born alive and that
his injuries stemmed from an intentional assault.
"Sometimes one expert can view the injuries as relating to an assault, while
another expert sees them as a product of the birthing process," Gaertner said.
Laure Krupp, executive director of Safe Place for Newborns, in Minneapolis,
said parents — particularly young parents with an unwanted pregnancy — have
options.
"State law says that the mother, or a person acting on mother's behalf with her
permission, may bring an unharmed newborn, up to three days old, to any
hospital in the state," Krupp said. "The child must be left with a hospital
employee on the hospital's premises. That person will not be prosecuted for
abandonment or neglect, if the child has no post-birth injuries."
For more information about Safe Place for Newborns, go online to
www.safeplacefornewborns.com or call 612-317-2895. The group's crisis hot line
is 1-877-440-2229.
Reply to jmhjmd at aol.
J.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/local/10022864.htm?1c
18-year-old admits strangling newborn
Prosecutors request 10-year sentence for mother
BY MARIE McCAIN
Pioneer Press
An 18-year-old White Bear Lake woman admitted as part of a plea agreement this
week to strangling her newborn son.
Amanda Holly Anderson, appearing Monday before Ramsey County District Judge
Teresa Warner, pleaded guilty to second-degree unintentional murder. In
exchange for her plea, prosecutors dismissed a charge of second-degree
intentional murder that could have earned her more than 25 years in prison and
agreed to ask the judge to sentence Anderson to 10 years in prison.
She could spend nearly seven years in prison, with the rest served on
supervised release, officials said. Sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 8.
On May 6, White Bear police went to Anderson's home after one of Anderson's
friends told them she was concerned about Anderson and her baby.
According to a criminal complaint, police found the infant's body, wrapped in a
shirt and placed in a white plastic bag, inside a clothes hamper in Anderson's
room.
Anderson told police she gave birth to the baby in the bathroom and that it was
stillborn. But an autopsy determined the child was born alive and his injuries
were consistent with "three to five minutes of continued pressure on the neck,"
the complaint stated.
Anderson told a friend she hid her pregnancy because she didn't want her family
to know, the charges alleged.
Her defense attorney could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner said Tuesday the plea was offered because
prosecutors would have had a hard time proving the baby was born alive and that
his injuries stemmed from an intentional assault.
"Sometimes one expert can view the injuries as relating to an assault, while
another expert sees them as a product of the birthing process," Gaertner said.
Laure Krupp, executive director of Safe Place for Newborns, in Minneapolis,
said parents — particularly young parents with an unwanted pregnancy — have
options.
"State law says that the mother, or a person acting on mother's behalf with her
permission, may bring an unharmed newborn, up to three days old, to any
hospital in the state," Krupp said. "The child must be left with a hospital
employee on the hospital's premises. That person will not be prosecuted for
abandonment or neglect, if the child has no post-birth injuries."
For more information about Safe Place for Newborns, go online to
www.safeplacefornewborns.com or call 612-317-2895. The group's crisis hot line
is 1-877-440-2229.
Reply to jmhjmd at aol.
