Posted on 01/12/2010 3:47:32 AM PST by Born Conservative
BLOOMSBURG – Calling it a crime of deep recklessness, Columbia County President Judge Scott Naus sentenced a mother on Monday to one to three years in jail for placing her newborn infant out of a window in freezing temperatures.
Jennifer Killian, 24, of Berwick, was permitted to serve her sentence at the Columbia County Prison while she continues treatment for mental illnesses.
Killian’s lawyer, Franklin Kepner Jr., said she has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Kepner requested house arrest for Killian, who was sentenced on the charge of endangering the welfare of children.
Berwick police said Killian, then 23, gave birth in a first-floor bathroom of her parents’ house on Garfield Avenue on Nov. 22, 2008. She placed the infant in a shopping bag that she retrieved from a garbage can in the house and placed the baby – with the placenta still attached – outside through a window, according to arrest records.
Police said the outside temperature when the infant was found by Killian’s stepfather, Charles Drasher, was 17 degrees, and the baby’s core temperature was 84 degrees when she was taken to Berwick Hospital.
Killian wept as she told Naus she never intended to harm the infant that she was planning to abandon at Berwick Hospital.
“This is a sad and tragic case,” Naus said. “I don’t think there was a criminal mind, but a crime of deep recklessness. She did recklessly avoid the care for an infant.”
Killian, the mother of a 2 � year old girl, hid her second pregnancy from her mother, Trudy Drasher.
Trudy Drasher threatened to throw her daughter out of the home if she got pregnant a second time.
During the sentencing hearing, Dr. Richard E. Fischbein, a psychiatrist who evaluated Killian, testified she suffers from several mental illnesses, including bipolar and personality disorders. At the time she gave birth to her second child, Killian was suffering from hyperthyroidism, a hyperactive thyroid, that caused her anxiety and periods of depression, Fischbein said.
Fischbein noted that while Killian was in the U.S. Air Force, she was hospitalized three times for her mental health before she was discharged after a year in the service.
Mixed with the anxiety and depression, and Trudy Drasher’s threat to throw her out of the home, Fischbein said he was of the opinion that Killian had no other option but to hide her pregnancy and the baby from her mother.
“I was scared by what my mother told me, that she was going to kick me out,” Killian said. “I am very sorry for what happened.”
Kepner said Killian feared she was going to be left without a home with her then-2-year-old daughter if Trudy Drasher had acted upon the threat.
“I don’t buy that mom was going to throw you out,” Naus said to Killian. “We’re not talking about a 15-year-old who is pregnant. We’re talking about a woman who has been pregnant and has a 2-year-old.
“I agree with Dr. Fischbein, this defendant is a sick individual … she did life threaten this child. She placed the child in danger of death,” Naus added.
Columbia County prosecutors requested a state prison sentence.
Naus permitted Killian to serve her sentence at the Columbia County Prison, making her eligible for work release. Killian may be released for psychiatric counseling.
The baby, who was named Brianna, is in the custody of adoptive parents.
This woman is nuts, not evil. I really don’t see the use for jail here. Except to make her more nuts.
Who is the father of the child? Unless he is mentally ill too, some jail time might be in order.
No, but I do see the need for sterilization.
Agreed. Send her to some more therapies, not jail.
Michael Jackson’s twin
At 24 years old, it’s time for mom to “throw her out of the house” anyway.
Yes, where is the ever-so-responsible father in all this?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.