Posted on 12/11/2008 6:02:01 AM PST by Born Conservative
BERWICK (PA)– A lawyer for a woman who is accused of endangering her newborn girl by placing the infant outdoors in frigid temperatures said he plans to investigate her confession to police.
Jennifer Lynn Killian, 23, of Berwick, was arrested Nov. 27 shortly after she allegedly admitted to investigators that she placed her newborn in a plastic bag and set the bag outside her Garfield Avenue home minutes after she gave birth on Nov. 22.
Police said Killian agreed to the interview with investigators after she was read her Miranda warnings.
“I’m aware of the fact that there is a statement; I’ll be exploring the circumstances of how it was obtained,” attorney Frank Kepner said after Killian’s preliminary hearing on Wednesday.
Killian was charged with aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment.
Police said in arrest records that the outdoor temperature was 17 degrees when the infant was found, and the baby’s body core temperature at the hospital was 84 degrees.
Physicians at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, where the infant was treated, informed police the newborn would not have survived outside for more than five minutes, arrest records say.
Killian waived her right to a preliminary hearing before District Judge Richard P. Cashman of Berwick, sending the charges to Columbia County Court of Common Pleas. She faces charges of simple assault and a second count of endangering the welfare of a child that were added on Wednesday.
Cashman modified Killian’s bail of $1 million to $25,000 during the brief court hearing. She was remanded to Columbia County Prison after the hearing.
“The million dollar bail, I think, is the highest ever in Columbia County, so it did indeed shocked me, specifically that she didn’t mean to hurt the child,” Kepner said.
“You don’t see a case of this nature every day,” Columbia County Assistant District Attorney Anthony McDonald said. “In doing this for the last 10 years, this is the first case of this nature in Columbia County; caught everybody by surprise.”
According to arrest records, Charles Drasher, Killian’s father, discovered the newborn outside his home.
Killian told police, according to arrest records, that she hid her pregnancy from her parents by wearing baggy clothes. After giving birth in a bathroom of her parents’ home, she tried to hide the newborn by placing the baby outside with intentions of taking her daughter to Berwick Hospital, arrest records say.
Drasher was outside in the rear of the home at about the same time when Killian placed the infant on the ground.
Police said they linked Killian to the infant through DNA tests, arrest records say.
She gave birth in her parents' house, placed the baby in a plastic bag with her cord still around her neck, and dropped the bag out of the first floor bathroom window, onto the cold ground (it was 17 degrees outside).
Attempted murder would stick and be much more appropriate.
Obama will make this action legal.
My thoughts as well. This mom is 23 years old and already has another child; thus, she knew that what she did would be harmful to the baby. Also, the cord was around the babie's neck, and she didn't unwrap it before sticking the baby in the plastic bag (along with the box of tampons). I also find it very hard to believe that the baby's grandparents didn't know their daughter was pregnant, as one of her co-workers asked her several months ago how long she was taking off for maternity leave.
:::sarc tag in case its needed:::
Give me a break. It looks to me like she meant to KILL her. She was probably going to take her to a dumpster.
Of course you do. And that is the scary part. There is a political party is this country for more than 30 years has said these are not babies but burdens to be gotten rid of....so these girls get rid of them with a thought just as they would a mole on their behinds.
It’s a sad state to see this happening with increasing frequency in this country.
Good point. If these girls thought of the babies as human,as people, they would not dump them somewhere like this. Their minds are thinking that they aren’t really human.
I understand that not all girls can or will be able to take care of a baby. But clearly their mental state is that their baby isn’t a real person.
Just a late abortion, dontchaknow.
she tried to hide the newborn by placing the baby outside with intentions of taking her daughter to Berwick Hospital, arrest records say.
After placing the newborn in a plastic bag in 17 degree weather, she would need to take her to the hospital! And pray the baby survived.
Shockingly callous. It's hard to fathom how she could put a baby in a bag and put her outside in that. All the more callous when we find she's 23 with another child It's not like she didn't know anything about babies.
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