Resentence mom who put newborn in trash at sorority

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A woman who was imprisoned without parole for killing her daughter by throwing the infant in the trash after giving birth at her college sorority house should be resentenced, a divided Ohio Supreme Court has ruled.

Emilie, now 27, was sentencing herself. She was convicted in April 2015 of aggravated killing and several other charges related to the death of the child. Weaver could have been sentenced to life with a chance for parole in as little as 20 years, which was requested by her attorney, but Judge Mark Fleegle said he wasn’t convinced Weaver was remorseful.

Weaver applied for post-conviction relief in 2017. She claimed that her lawyer had not provided a full explanation of neonaticide, and she could have received an even lesser sentence. A neonaticide is the killing of an infant within 24 hour of birth.

Fleegle, who also handled the post-conviction relief hearing, discredited an expert witness who tried to explain Weaver’s condition. The sentencing was upheld by an appellate court, but the 4-3 decision of the state Supreme Court announced Thursday that Weaver’s counsel was ineffective at her sentencing.

Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor noted in the majority opinion that Fleegle demonstrated an arbitrary and unreasonable attitude toward evidence of both neonaticide as well as “pregnancy-negation syndrome,” where a person is in denial about their pregnancy.

Prosecutors claim that Weaver gave birth to her baby in the Delta Gamma Theta Sorority at Muskingum University. They also claimed that she then deliberately caused her death. The baby died of asphyxiation when Weaver placed her in a trash bag and then left her outside the house.

Weaver claimed that she was denial about her pregnancy, and that the baby was already dead when the trial began.

Weaver was represented by public defenders, who did not respond to email and phone messages seeking comment.

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