Case over tainted breast milk is a struggle for judges

[question everything]

Case over tainted breast milk is a struggle for judges

APPEAL: The court has said it is leaning toward overturning the mother's murder conviction.

Wednesday, August 3, 2005

By JOHN WELSH / The Press-Enterprise

RIVERSIDE - A state Courts of Appeal panel Tuesday debated a case against a Riverside County woman convicted of killing her infant son with tainted breast milk.

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The heart of the case rested on an implied malice theory for the September 2003 second-degree murder conviction. At issue is whether Prien, a methamphetamine dealer and user, knew that she could kill 3-month-old Jacob by breast-feeding the child. Jacob died in January 2002. An autopsy determined that the baby died from heart failure triggered by elevated levels of methamphetamine in his system.

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A blurry issue was whether the scientific community universally concurs with a belief that a child can be poisoned by breast milk if a mother is using a controlled substance such as methamphetamine.

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Prien is serving a 15-years-to-life term at the Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla.

The appellate court indicated it would reverse three felony counts of child endangerment related to Prien's other children. She still could face prison time because the court did not address her felony child-endangerment conviction related to Jacob's death.

Reach John Welsh at [phone] or [e-mail]

Online at: http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_H_prien03.130ced1b.html

[PA Mamma]

1. Sad...

simply sad.