Mother Charged With Manslaughter Of 3-Week-Old
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - A St. Paul woman faces a manslaughter charge after she allegedly went to sleep with her 3-week-old in bed and the baby suffocated underneath her.
According to the criminal complaint, Justice Marie Ellis, 20, went to bed in the early hours of Aug. 16 after drinking. She took the newborn to bed with her, and her partner took another baby with him.
A witness said he came into the room later that morning after he heard the other baby crying. He said the 3-week-old was partially under Ellis and was "really white." Another witness had to pull the baby out from under Ellis' leg, the complaint says.
When police arrived at the scene in Dayton, the newborn was declared dead.
In an interview, Ellis admitted she had roughly six alcoholic drinks the night before. Both she and her partner each took a baby to bed with them, and she admitted she took the 3-week-old.
The complaint says that Ellis' BAC at 10 a.m. - roughly eight hours after she said she went to bed - was .063. A rough estimate of her BAC at 2 a.m. was determined to be .183.
The medical examiner declared the baby's cause of death to be mechanical asphyxiation with a contributing factor of unsafe sleeping conditions.
Ellis was charged via summons, and if convicted, could face 10 years in prison for the second-degree manslaughter charge.