Jury convicts Tenn. mother in newborn twins' deaths

In this Oct. 25, 2011 file photo, Lindsey Lowe, right, sits with her attorney, John Pellegrin, during a hearing in Gallatin, Tenn. / AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File

GALLATIN, Tenn. A jury found a 26-year-old Tennessee woman guilty of murder Tuesday in the 2011 smothering deaths of newborn twins found in her laundry basket.

The jury of seven men and five women convicted Lindsey Lowe, of suburban Nashville, of felony murder, premeditated murder and aggravated child abuse. She was immediately sentenced to life in prison by the judge.

Lowe, who was often emotional at trial, didn't break down as the sentence was pronounced. She was dry-eyed when she turned to sobbing family members and friends in the courtroom before being taken into custody.

The defendant, who toted a Bible throughout much of the seven-day trial, told them softly, "I'm OK. I love you all. He's with me," as she pointed toward the sky.

At trial, jurors saw a video of Lowe telling police she had given birth alone on Sept. 12, 2011, in the bathroom of her parents' home on a quiet cul-de-sac in an upper-middle-class neighborhood.

The bodies weren't found until two days later. A family member discovered one baby dead in a laundry basket at the home in Hendersonville, 20 miles northeast of Nashville. When police arrived to investigate, officers found the second body under a bloody sheet in the same basket.

Lowe was engaged at the time but became pregnant during an affair with another man, jurors were told. She hid the pregnancy from her family and friends, and the defense and prosecution offered competing arguments as to why.

Hendersonville Police Detective Steve Malach testified that Lowe told him during an interrogation that she had kept her pregnancy secret so as not to disappoint her fiance or add to the stress of a family member's illness. In a video of the interrogation, Lowe said she "maybe" smothered the babies.

"I was just trying to keep them quiet," she said on the video.

Two police officers who found the babies in Lowe's laundry basket were barely able to contain their emotions as they recalled the events on the witness stand.

Officer Jeremy Fentress described pulling back a bloody towel. He then had to stop speaking for a few seconds before continuing: "After I pulled the bloody towel back, I saw a deceased infant."

Fentress said he touched the baby with two fingers and found the infant was cold and not breathing.

The second was found by Sgt. James Garrett, who fought back tears as he described how the two babies were still attached by their umbilical cords to a single placenta.

Prosecutors also introduced graphic autopsy photographs of the infants.

Det. Malach testified that police searched the home thoroughly but found no evidence that Lowe had made any plans for the birth.

The defense argued that Lowe's confession was not reliable because she was "divorced from reality" at the time.

Psychiatrist Dr. William Kenner testified for the defense that Lowe had blocked out her pregnancy, then suffered shock and delirium from blood loss after she gave birth.

"Lindsey Lowe was pregnant, but she refused to accept it, her mind refused to accept it," defense attorney John Pellegrin had told the jury.

Prosecutor Ray Whitley countered that by presenting evidence of Internet searches on Lowe's iPhone for information on inducing labor.

Family, friends and church members, who have rallied to support Lowe, were sobbing after the verdict was read by Judge Dee David Gay.

The two murder convictions both carry a life sentence, which in Tennessee means Lowe will serve a mandatory 51 years in prison. Judge Dee Gay will rule on whether the two sentences will be served concurrently or consecutively at an April hearing. Gee will also determine whether Lowe must serve additional time for the aggravated child abuse conviction.

Defense attorney Pellegrin declined to comment after the verdict.

District Attorney General Ray Whitley sad it was a "sad situation for a young lady to get a life sentence, but she's the one who did it."

Lowe's father, Mark, and sister, Lacey, testified on her behalf during the trial, both saying no one knew she was pregnant. The sister said they both had been in a wedding just days before the birth and Lindsey Lowe didn't appear pregnant when she undressed in front of other women in the wedding party.

The defendant didn't testify. "I just don't feel like I can emotionally handle it," she told the judge Monday, while fighting back tears.

[whimserious]

I agree with those who said the twin's death was ruled murder as it should have been, though I do believe the woman is mentally ill. But if a "doctor" had killed them for money that very day, recycling the tiny body parts for yet more money, it would be legal. (Some people comfort themselves with the belief that the unborn, full-term babies are given pain killers before they are murdered.) And on Sunday, the abortionist could go to church with his family and dutifully donate 10% of his bloody wealth to the church and be praised as a good man.
Had the babies survived a botched abortion, our government forbids the hospital personnel to comfort or aid them, leaving them to die alone on a cold slab - not even a blanket to keep them warm. What this sick mother did was more merciful. We protect, defend and have more compassion for terrorists and murderers in prison than for these innocent children! We care more about dogs and cats. Still, we keep voting in men and women who legislate and support all of the above, including President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and many others in the Senate and House. Abortion has gone to the bottom of the page of "voting priorities", all the while we claim to care about children... if they're "wanted", that is.
These things are so horrible that many people still refuse to believe that they happen at all. The people of Germany did the same thing when Hitler was killing their neighbors. It is a harsh comparison, but a true one,
I am a little surprised that this mother was convicted; after all, she didn't "want" her babies. I'm afraid that someday women like her will be able to get away with murders like this by claiming they did a home abortion.

[Shannon_Lowney]

Who is this "we" you keep referring to?

Do you consider the sweeping generalizations you make here to be true argument?

Does naming the country's top Democrats truly help you to mislead yourself into believe that they're responsible?

Does your pastor make other yet-unheard yet possibly factual statements about abortion for you to share with us?

Do you realize that, when posting comments on the interweb, comparing any action (either by other commentators or by those in the article, or others that you've generalized toward) to Nazi Germany or Hitler completely negates the statement you're making? (because it's a common thing to do, and the ultimate paean and comparison to evil.)

Do you get dizzy when you step from your high-horse to your soapbox?

[Maerzie]

In this mostly Godless, hypocritical country, where abortion is legal almost everywhere, this is clear PROOF of that absurdity we allow! If done by a doctor, who has taken his Hippocratic oath to "do no harm", or some other butcher, a few months earlier, this same act is called an "abortion". The "abortion" is exactly the same human life, which modern-day technology can save, from quite early stages on. The ludicrous semantics is used to "PRETEND" that human lives are not being murdered, even though we ALL know better! Selfishness and Godlessness are valued higher than the victims of such brutality. However, if a pregnant woman is murdered, or in an accidental manslaughter, like a car accident, the perpetrator is charged with the pregnant woman's AND the baby's deaths! Nobody even questions THEN that the being in that woman's uterus is a human life! WHO do these people THINK they're FOOLING?? Are they fooling our Supreme Creator too??

[solocam1962]

My thoughts exactly when reading this! 12 hours earlier with a pair of scissors (partial birth) to back of the babies heads and then suck out their brains - it would have been the mothers RIGHT! But yet since she just smothered them after they came out of the birth canal - it's murder. Bunch of illogical nonsense. Murder is murder - irregardless if it's a matter of 6 inches still inside the birth canal. I'll betcha CBS won't let this post stay up very long either!

[ryekitty]

I have to wonder if these babies were even close to full-term at birth. The weight and gender of the newborns isn't mentioned in the article. To be carrying twins and not even appear pregnant is quite the feat.

The newborns were found with their umbilical cords still connected to the placenta. That could have easily caused their deaths...the cord must be cut relatively soon after birth.

I highly doubt this woman had any pre-natal care during her pregnancy, seeing as she was in denial that she was even pregnant. It appears she shared her secret with no one. It also appears she knew little to nothing about the birth process. She was alone in her family's bathroom with no help or support.

I imagine the autopsies proved that the newborns were born alive, and there was indication of suffocation.

But one has to ask why she left the babies in the laundry basket for two days waiting for a deceased newborn to be discovered by a family member?

A sad story, for sure. It is unfortunate she didn't have a friend/family member to turn to. I imagine she might have been too far along to terminate the pregnancy...I don't know.

[chipmanmike]

If she had paid a Dr. to do it 6 months earlier, no one would have ever done anything.

[FoolKiller]

This is something you might expect (but not condone) from a 12 year old.
This... whatever she is... was what? 24 or 25 at the time?
Perhaps prison will mature her. Baby killers are popular there...

[Wondering53]

I cannot comprehend how a mother could smother her two newborns, its beyond me. This woman was 26 yrs old, old enough to know there were other choices besides murder of her own children! It makes me sick. It is hard for me to believe that she was pregnant with twins, changed clothes for a wedding, and didn't look pregnant!?!?! What she does with the rest of her life is between her and God, but she received the right sentence. I only hope the sentences are not run concurrently, she needs to be in prison a long, long time.

[Cartamel2]

Although this is a very sad case, her punishment fits the crime.

[mesopotamianmon]

All the comments below are from ignorant people.

[cbsusernamenumber2]

i dont feel sorry for her at all.. she could have aborted.. sick *****

[andthetruthis]

Does 'Susan Smith', ring a bell?

Can't have this guy,with this guy's children,

soooooo.......