EDMONTON - BC-CRIME-Dead-Baby, 2nd Writethru
code:3
Update:ADDS day, defence will appeal, details
Eds:Will be writethru
INDEX: Crime, Punishment, Trials, Court Preliminary, Lawyer, Homicide, Justice
HL:Edmonton judge denies lawyer's request for mistrial in baby death case
THE CANADIAN PRESS
EDMONTON -- An Edmonton judge has denied a defence lawyer's request to set aside a jury verdict that found a young woman guilty of second-degree murder in her newborn baby's death.
Court of Queen's Bench Justice Joanne Veit made the ruling Tuesday in the case of Katrina Effert, who was 19 years old when she secretly gave birth in her parents' basement and strangled the baby with her underwear.
Veit immediately sentenced Effert to the minimum sentence of life in prison with no parole eligibility for 10 years.
Defence lawyer Peter Royal indicated there will be an appeal.
He had asked the judge to declare a mistrial, saying the jury must not have understood medical evidence at the trial. That evidence clearly suggested Effert's mind was disturbed after the birth, he said.
He suggested Effert should have been convicted of infanticide, a lesser crime that carries a maximum sentence of five years.
Effert lowered her head when the judge made her decision and didn't raise it again. When Veit asked her to stand for sentencing, two court officers had to help Effert to her feet.
Her parents broke into loud sobs upon hearing Veit's ruling and wept audibly throughout the rest of the proceedings.
Court was told that in April 2005, Effert strangled her newborn son with thong underwear and tossed his body over a neighbour's fence.
In an RCMP video from 2005, Effert is heard admitting she panicked three hours after giving birth because the baby was crying and she didn't want her parents to know what had happened.
"I put him (the baby) face down and then I wrapped my underwear around his neck," said Effert in the video.
Prosecutors argued she knew exactly what she was doing when she strangled the baby and that her actions were those of someone cold and calculating.
