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Holly Ashcraft Update

10/10/06 Update: Ashcraft's arraignment postponed until Nov. 11th.

I don't know what her lawyer is smoking these days, but he hopes that the judge will dismiss the case.

Ashcraft appeared in court Tuesday with Geragos, who said he hopes the judge will dismiss the case against Ashcraft next month."In this case, the evidence was clear at the preliinary hearing that she had no responsibility," Geragos said. "There was nothing that was done that could be considered an intentional act." (article and video here)

Stuffing a baby into a box and putting the box into a dumpster isn't an intentional act? What, is he going to say that she was sleep walking?

Geragos went on to say that he finds Holly "extremely bright, an incredibly smart and resilient person, and I've come to like her a lot."

He probably thought Scott Peterson was a great guy and maybe O.J. is one of his golfing buddies.      

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Mark Geragos, lawyer for (suspended) USC student, Holly Ashcraft, said that his client should not be tried for murder because the death of her newborn son "was not an intentional act." It is alleged that Ashcraft put her newborn into a box and placed him in a dumpster, where he was found by a homeless man rummaging through the trash. (earlier post here.)

Ronald Rose, L.A.  County Superior Court Commissioner, disagreed and the case will move forward.

It was the second time Ashcraft was linked to the death of a baby. In April 2004, she showed up at a Los Angeles hospital bleeding after having apparently given birth. She told investigators that the child -- whose body has never been found -- had been stillborn and that she had disposed of it on her own.

Ashcraft was not charged with any crime in that incident. But during last week's hearing, Det. Moses Castillo of the Los Angeles Police Department testified that officers had told Ashcraft during the investigation that a baby could be left at a hospital or fire station with no questions asked. (full article here)

Dead Infant's DNA Shows High Probability That He Was Holly Ashcraft's Baby

Deputy District Attorney, Franco Baratta, said that DNA tests showed a 99.93% probability that the dead baby boy, who was found in a dumpster almost one year ago today, belonged to USC coed Holy Ashcraft.

An autopsy report released in February determined the baby's death to be a homicide due to "caretaker neglect," according to Deputy Medical Examiner David B. Whiteman, who noted that intentional asphyxia could not be ruled out
as a cause of death. 

According to the autopsy report, the baby was born alive after a 32-week pregnancy. (Link:cbs2.com - D.A. Says DNA Of Dead Baby Matches Holly Ashcraft.)

Ashcraft was investigated back in 2004 when she arrived at a LA hospital appearing to have given birth but with no baby. No baby was ever found and charges weren't pressed.

The original prosecutor in the case, Efrain Aceves, has resigned his position to become special assistant inspector general.

Ashcraft's defense lawyer is Mark Geragos, who has defended Scott Peterson (Laci Peterson murder), Michael Jackson (for child molestation), Gary Condit (in the disappearance of Chandra Levy), and Susan McDougal (Whitewater), among others.

Holly Ashcraft Gets New Defense

Holly Ashcraft, the University of Southern California student who has been charged in the death of her infant (see earlier post) has a new lawyer--Mark Geragos.

Geragos has had some other notable clients: Scott Peterson, Susan McDougal, Winona Ryder, and Gary Condit.

There is a preliminary hearing slated for May 23rd, but one could expect that date to be pushed back due to the change in defense.

Jean Rosenbluth, a law professor at USC, says the change in lawyers is often used as "a tactic to delay the legal process and stay out of jail."

Ashcraft might be looking for an attorney who can "get her side of the story out there," and Geragos certainly has "a good relationship" with members of both law enforcement and the media, Rosenbluth said.

She agreed that the prosecutor is "outmanned" with Geragos and his law firm as Ashcraft's defense team, adding that prosecutors are "almost always outmanned" in cases where the defendant can hire private counsel.

Links: Daily Trojan online

Feb. 10 Update: Holly Ashcraft

CBS has an article and video on the Holly Ashcraft case  here.

Holly Ashcraft is the 21-year-old USC student whose newborn baby was found dead in a dumpster near the campus.

This was the second child that Ashcraft had. No one but Holly really knows what happened to that baby back in 2004.

For more information concerning this case, use this blog's search feature at the top of the page.

Independent Sources also has more on this story.

Update: Holly Ashcraft Autopsy

Deputy Medical Examiner David Whitman concludes the following with regard to the autopsy performed on Holly Ashcraft's baby:

• The baby was in the 32nd week
• He was born alive
• Homicide finding is based on "caretaker neglect"
• intentional asphyxia can not be ruled out

Ashcraft's attorney, Paul Wallin, says that there was no evidence of traumatic injury, externally nor internally and notes that "prematurity and other undetermined factors" were the cause of death.

In addition, Wallin said the finding that intentional asphyxiation cannot be ruled out only means that "anything is possible. That's not like saying they're making any findings that anything like that happened."

Link: L.A. Times article

Previous posts on the Ashcraft Case may be found using this blog's "site search."

Holly Ashcraft Autopsy Results Released

The autopsy report concluded that Holly's baby was born alive.

The coroner attributed the cause of death to "prematurity and other undetermined factors," and could not rule out asphyxiation as a possibility. The coroner also found no evidence of external or internal traumatic injuries, the Times reported.

Link: Daily Trojan

For previous posts on the case, use the site search feature.

Holly Ashcraft Autopsy Report Finished

The autopsy  report on Holly Ashcraft's baby has been released and her defense team  says they are "extremely pleased " with what was reported.

But prior to that statement, the deputy district attorney said:

If we (the prosecution) cannot establish that the baby was born alive, then we do not have a case ... We are not dropping the charges," implying that the results of the autopsy report were enough to warrant continuing the case.

To bring you up to speed, Ashcraft is a Univ. of Southern California student charged with murdering her newborn infant by abandoning him in a dumpster

Previous posts on the Ashcraft case: Holly Ashcraft Strikes Again?; Holly Ashcraft's Dad Shocked ; Update on Holly Ashcraft; Law & Order Episode Similar To Holly Ashcraft Case; Update: Holly Ashcraft; Prof. Questions Abstinence Only Sex-Ed in Holly Ashcraft Case

Link: Ashcraft defense pleased by autopsy - News.

Law & Order Episode Similar to Holly Ashcraft Case

Update: The show airs at 9:00 p.m., Tuesday  the 17th, on KY3 in Springfield. 

USC's Daily Trojan says that an upcoming episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit will bear a striking resemblance to the case of USC junior Holly Ashcroft, who is charged with the murder of her newborn.

The episode sees a "well-to-do college coed" brought to trial after a newborn baby boy is found in the trash.

Ashcraft was arrested after a newborn was found in a dumpster. The Los Angeles Times reported that she was attending USC on a full-tuition scholarship.

In the "Law and Order: SVU" episode, the girl admits to detectives "that she had been raped and was unaware that she had been pregnant prior to the birth," according to the episode description.

Many of Ashcraft's friends have said that they couldn't tell she was pregnant.

The summary goes on to say, "The girl soon loses sympathy when it is also discovered that the girl had been connected to another abandoned newborn a year later, but was never arrested."

Law enforcement sources have confirmed that Ashcraft was investigated but never charged in April 2004 for a similar crime.

The episode airs on January 17th.

Earlier posts on Holly Ashcraft: Holly Aschraft Strikes Again?; Holly Ashcraft's Dad Shocked

Update: Holly Ashcraft

A judge denied increased freedom of movement to Holy Ashcraft (the USC student  charged with murder and child abuse--see her story here.)

The court also authorized the release of the newborn, Baby Boy Doe #171, for burial, said Paul J. Wallin, Ashcraft's attorney.

Ashcraft's mother, Marlene Zentz, wants to obtain custody of the baby, Wallin said.

Ashcraft's defense team had filed a written request for her to have increased traveling freedom outside her home, including trips to the gym, said Prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Efrain Aceves.

Aceves had argued that, "Her being home is the alternative to being in jail," and the commissioner, Ronald Rose, agreed.

The court ruled that Ashcraft's current traveling restrictions would remain in place, Wallin said. The restrictions mandate that she must stay at home except to visit her Tustin-based attorney.

Ashcraft will again be in court on January 12th, when her attorney will once again try to gain more freedom to travel for his client.

The autopsy report on her baby should be released before the end of the month.

Link: Court denies Ashcraft's bid for mobility - Online Update.

Update on Holly Ashcraft

Holly Ashcraft, accused of leaving her infant to die in a trash dumpster, was released after a judge reduced her bail from 2M to $200,000.

Link: Bail Reduction Leads to Release of Student Accused in Infant's Death.

For more on the Ashcraft case, try these links: Holly Ashcraft Strikes Again?, Holly Ashcraft's Dad Shocked, Holly Ashcraft's Shame: Suspected in Double Infanticide, and Holly Ashcraft: 42 second drive would have saved her newborn son

Prof. Questions Abstinence Only Sex Ed in Holly Ashcraft Case

Background: Holly Ashcraft is charged with abandoning her newborn infant, who died.

Louise Marie Roth, assistant sociology professor at the  University of Southern California, (where Ashcroft goes to school) speculates on the case:

"I suspect that students who receive strict abstinence-only messages and no other messages about sexuality feel that they have no social resources to turn to if they get pregnant," (Snipped)

She goes on to say that Ashcroft may have felt that abandoning her newborn infant to die was less morally repugnant than admitting to premarital sex.

She had to be told that leaving an infant to die is worse? What a load of crap.

Previous posts on Ashcraft: Holly Ashcraft's Dad Shocked; Holly Ashcraft Strikes Again?
Link: Sex ed may have impacted Ashcraft

Speaker Discusses Baby Abandonment at USC

The Holly Ashcraft case was the impetus behind an event  to educate women at the University of Southern California about Project Cuddle, an alternative to child abandonment.

"We've been able to rescue 536 babies from the fate of abandonment and helped their mothers get safe, legal help so they didn't break the law," Magnusen said.

The help these girls receive is strictly confidential. Their families often never find out about their pregnancy, unless they decide to share that information, Magnusen said.

Magnusen also discussed the Safely Surrendered Baby Law of 2001, which was recently made permanent by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The California law allows a parent to anonymously surrender a child in a hospital emergency room or fire station within 72 hours of birth without prosecution.

Holly Ashcraft's Dad Shocked

Holy Holly Ashcraft, The Univ. of southern California student who is under suspicion of infanticide, hasn't seen her father, Terry Ashcraft, in three years.

Mr. Ashcraft, of Billings, MT, was shocked when he learned of the charges against his daughter. He characterized her as "one hell of a good kid" and "very bright, athletic and very upbeat."

Holly admitted to having disposed of another infant, who she claimed was stillborn, in 2004. The body of that child was never found, so she was never arrested or charged with a crime.

Her attorney  suggests that this child, who was found in a cardboard box next to a dumpster, was also stillborn, and thus, no crime committed. (How do these guys sleep at night?)

Police aren't saying how they tied Ms. Ashcraft to the child. They maintain that the child was full-term and alive at birth, but autopsy results will not be available for a month or more.

Holly Ashcraft Strikes Again?

Once again, Holly Ashcraft is under suspicion of infanticide.

A 21-year-old USC student charged with her baby's abandonment and death this week also was investigated last year after she arrived at a hospital in downtown Los Angeles appearing to have just given birth but without a baby, according to law enforcement sources close to the case.

Investigators never found the body in 2004.

In the current case, Ashcraft, of Billings, Mont., was arrested Wednesday and charged with murder and child abuse in connection with the alleged abandonment of her newborn son in a trash bin near her apartment north of the USC campus. Police said the child was born alive but placed inside a cardboard box and deposited into the container. A homeless man picking through the trash discovered the child and called police.

As Independent Sources points out, California has a "Safe Surrender" law, which would have allowed Ms. Ashcraft to take her baby to any site designated as a Safe Surrender site without fear of prosecution or arrest. (The law only applies to infants three days or younger, who have not been neglected or abused.)

Link: USC Student Was Focus of '04 Baby Investigation - Los Angeles Times.