Mother Going To Prison In Suffocation Death Of Infant Son
Follow KDKA-TV: Facebook | Twitter
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania mother has been sentenced to 11 to 22 years in the suffocation death of her 2-month-old son as the two slept in the same bed.
Thirty-year-old Jessica Harper pleaded no contest Monday to third-degree murder and child endangerment charges in the child's July 2017 death in Fulton Township.
Authorities in Lancaster County said social services workers and the defendant's pediatrician repeatedly warned her of the dangers of sleeping in the same bed as the infant.
Harper served 85 days following the 2011 asphyxiation death of another 2-month-old child sleeping on a couch at her Maryland home.
Lancaster County Judge Margaret Miller said Harper's decision not to change her parenting style after the first baby's death "simply floors me." Harper said "My kids mean the world to me."
(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)