Court Finds Mother Guilty in Murder of Her Newborn

An Orange County Superior Court judge on Wednesday found a Fullerton woman guilty of murdering her newborn in 1995 and placing his body in a car trunk, saying the case hinged on a mother’s unique duty to protect and care for her child.

Jackie Lynn Anderson contended her inability to help her newborn after giving birth to him alone in a bathroom was triggered by a rare pregnancy-related depression. She put her head in her hands and sobbed at the verdict that followed a two-week court trial.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Anthony Rackauckas Jr. said he believed the 38-year-old woman was “profoundly disturbed” but found her guilty of second-degree murder because she acted with a “wanton disregard of human life.”

A medical examiner determined the five-pound boy was born alive Aug. 11, 1995, in the Fullerton townhome Anderson shared with her mother but died from a lack of appropriate care at delivery.

“The court finds that the defendant had an awareness of her duty to care for the child, and failed to care for the child, there being a high degree of probability that the failure to care would result in a death,” the judge said.

He also found Anderson guilty of child endangerment for abandoning a newborn girl in 1992 after a similar unattended, at-home birth. That child survived and was adopted.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary Paer said the verdict was appropriate, describing the case as one involving “outrageous” neglect in which the newborn was allowed to “basically shrivel up and die.”

“This is the type of conduct that society I don’t think is willing to accept,” the prosecutor said. “That’s why the law has established this legal duty where if you give birth to a child, you just can’t ignore it and not take care of it.”

Anderson’s lawyer said the verdict was devastating. She called for a law similar to one in England that allows a “presumption of illness” for a mother who, when suffering from depression, harms or kills her infant. Such women face manslaughter charges and treatment, rather than prison, she said.

People in the United States need to become more aware that mothers can be driven by pregnancy-related depression to harm their offspring, Deputy Public Defender Vicki Carter Briles said.

“It’s just too hard to accept that maternal disorder can be an excuse for behavior,” Briles said. “It’s just too hard. When are they going to get it?”

U.S. sentences for women who have killed hours-old infants have ranged from lengthy prison terms to acquittals to treatment in psychiatric hospitals.

Legal experts say the wide range of penalties reflects the divisions within the psychiatric community about pregnancy-related disorders and the fiercely protective emotions that the deaths of infants stir.

Anderson will face from 15 years to life in prison when she is sentenced March 28 by Rackauckas. Briles said she will explore whether Anderson will be eligible for probation.

Relatives said they fear for Anderson’s safety if she is sent to prison, and describe her as a new person since she has begun taking antidepressant drugs while in jail.

“Jackie needs treatment and help,” said Kim Fowler, Anderson’s sister.

The trial involved an unusual defense using a pregnancy-related depression that Anderson and her lawyer said contributed to the rare act of neonaticide, the killing of an infant within the first hours of life.

Anderson contended she was suffering a mental breakdown triggered by a downward spiral of alcoholism and depression that only intensified during her four previous deliveries, the children of which were all adopted or placed with relatives.

During her last two pregnancies, Anderson said she denied to herself and others that she was pregnant.

Her mother ultimately confronted her during her last pregnancy, and Anderson testified she was in the process of arranging medical care through social services when she went into labor. Anderson had recently lost her job as a credit manager and was living in her car before going to stay at her mother’s house.

Anderson told police she heard the newborn take a few breaths immediately after the delivery, then believed he was dead.

The next day, Anderson said she inexplicably placed the baby in a cardboard box in her car and attempted to keep an appointment with a social worker. She returned home that evening and faced questioning from her mother, who had found a bag of blood-soaked clothing in a closet. Anderson denied she had given birth, and went to bed.

Her mother, suspecting her daughter had been drinking, searched Anderson’s car for alcohol and discovered the newborn’s body in a box in the trunk.

Anderson initially pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but withdrew that plea after the verdict was announced Wednesday.

Psychiatrists had been divided about her mental state at the time of the delivery, and the role postpartum depression may have played in her pregnancies.

Mental issues aside, Briles argued that Anderson was, at the most, guilty of the less serious charge of involuntary manslaughter. She said the baby probably died within 10 minutes, and there was nothing to indicate that Anderson could have saved the baby’s life.

The prosecutor contended the case was one of “irresponsibility” and noted that Anderson admitted to police she knew she should have called for help.

“The bottom line on this case is the defendant did not want the children in the first place,” Paer told the judge.