The girl, identified as K.M. in court records, now insists she is innocent of homicide. In an appeal yesterday, her attorney, Joan Watt. argued the girl was unaware of what she was admitting because of a learning disability.
Watt contends the teen - who at the time had an I.Q. between 79 and 84 - thought she was acknowledging only that she had neglected a "little body" by not calling for help after giving birth in her bathroom in 2002.
"K.M. has never admitted the conduct for which she was convicted," Watt told the high court, adding that the girl says the baby was stillborn.
Prosecutors, though, say Juvenile Court Judge Elizabeth Lindsley explained to K.M. what she was admitting and the consequences of her plea. They also say the girl's failure to get help for the newborn boy was a basis for the charge against her.
"What's significant is she didn't render aid," Joanne Slotnick, an assistant Utah attorney general, argued.
K.M., who says she was unaware she was pregnant, gave birth at home in Salt Lake County on Sept. 4, 2002, while her parents were gone. There was no movement or sound, she says, and she put the body in a window well because she did not want to place it on the cold bathroom floor. The girl did not call for help from her aunt, a nurse who was in the house with her and her sisters.
Hours later, her mother discovered K.M. was bleeding and called an ambulance. Once she was at a hospital, the girl revealed why she was hemorraghing and her aunt retrieved the baby's body at the home.
Prosecutors charged her with one count of intentional, knowing or depraved indifference murder, a first-degree felony.
After a noon recess during the first day of trial on Dec. 1, 2003, both sides told the judge they had reached a resolution. Against her parents' wishes, K.M. pleaded to child-abuse homicide, a third-degree felony.
A week later, the girl asked to withdraw the admission, alleging she was confused and pressured into admitting the offense.
Lindsley denied the motion and sentenced K.M. to probation and community service. In a 2-1 decision, the Utah Court of Appeals last year upheld Lindsley's decision.
Yesterday, Chief Justice Christine Durham pointed out that K.M. was in "dire straits" from the bleeding and did not call for help for herself, either.
Slotnick responded that K.M. admitted to the crime and also said the fact that the girl didn't want to lay the baby on the cold floor showed she knew the child was alive.
The justices will issue a ruling later.
