Spring Valley Mother Who Strangled Newborn Sentenced To 12 Years In Prison
NEW CITY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A young mother who admitted strangling her newborn son and leaving his body in a recycling container outside a convenience store has been sentenced to 12 years in prison and deportation.
Maria Guaman-Guaman, 24, of Spring Valley, had been allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter in June after mental health experts testified she had brain damage from being kicked by a horse at age 7, had an IQ of 53 and had suffered from extreme emotional disturbance.
The plea agreement called for 15 years in prison, but state Supreme Court Justice William Kelly imposed the lower sentence, said Rockland County District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe.
The infant's body was left in the recycling bin in Spring Valley on Nov. 12 and was found later that day in a plastic bag by a worker at Brookfield Resource Management Inc. in Elmsford, across the Hudson River in Westchester County.
Police called the boy "Baby Angel."
Items found near the body, including discarded lottery tickets, helped police trace the baby to Spring Valley, and DNA tests identified Guaman-Guaman as the mother, Zugibe said. She was arrested in December.
The district attorney said the sentence includes deportation to Guaman-Guaman's native Ecuador after she serves her prison time. Her 3-year-old daughter has been placed with the girl's father.
Zugibe noted that under New York's Safe Haven law, a parent may anonymously surrender an unwanted infant at a hospital, a police station or a fire station.
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories
(TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
