Woman Gets Probation for Newborn's Death

(Los Angeles, California) A 23-year-old college student, Holly Ashcraft, pleaded no contest last week to child endangerment in the death of her newborn son in 2005 in accordance with a plea deal.

The deal ends a legal odyssey in which judges twice threw out murder charges against Ashcraft. Authorities alleged that she hid her pregnancy and after secretly giving birth in 2005 dumped her newborn son near a popular campus hangout.

They also argued it was not the first time she had disposed of a newborn.

Ashcraft was investigated by police, but not arrested or charged, in April 2004 after she arrived at a Los Angeles hospital having just given birth but without a baby, who was never found.

Under the plea deal, Ashcraft pleaded no contest to child endangerment. In return, she gets two years' time served and five years probation when sentenced on June 27.

I'm outraged. Ashcraft threw a newborn son into a dumpster and he died. That's intentional homicide -- MURDER -- not endangerment. One judge, David Wesley, questioned whether she acted with malice. Well, Judge Wesley, in my mind the act itself was malicious, cut and dried.

Jay at STACLU sums it up nicely.

Michael Vick sits in jail for allowing dogs to be tortured to death and is the object of sustained national rage and ridicule (rightly, of course). This woman tortures a baby to death (don’t anyone dare claim that leaving a newborn in a trashcan is not torture) and gets off with probation and sympathy. In today’s America, dogs are more valuable than babies.

When crimes against pets are more serious than crimes against children, it's hard to dispute the contention that institutions in American society and, by extension, all of civilization are gravely ill.

So, readers, toss your children in a dumpster, if you must, but don't forget to have Fido licensed and have him seen by a vet. And remember, never confuse your pet with your child because it could land you in the slammer.