Another Witness Expected in Murder of Newborn Case

Defense attorneys are expected to call at least one more witness Thursday before resting their case in the death of a newborn found in the bathroom of an eastern Pennsylvania bar last summer.
 
The newborn's mother, 27-year-old Amanda Hein of Allentown took the stand in her own defense in Northampton County Court on Wednesday and testified that she thought she was only three months pregnant when she gave birth in August at Starters Pub in Bethlehem. She said she "wasn't thinking, only reacting" when she placed the baby in a nearby garbage bag and hid the bag in the toilet tank. She said she believed the baby was dead.

"Did the baby cry?" defense attorney Michael Corriere asked.

"No, there was no sound," Hein testified.
 
Prosecutors said Hein concealed her pregnancy, used drugs and alcohol while pregnant and intentionally killed her baby.

Hein has already pleaded guilty to a general murder charge. Prosecutors are seeking a first-degree murder conviction and defense attorneys a third-degree conviction.

Pennsylvania is one of 49 states that offer mothers safe -- and legal -- alternatives to abandoning their babies. The Safe Haven Law allows parents to relinquish babies at any hospital in the state without fear of criminal prosecution, provided that the child is unharmed.