Los Angeles News

LOS ANGELES (CBS) ― For the third time, a murder charge against a USC student accused of killing her newborn son and dumping him in a trash bin was dismissed Thursday.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Samuel Mayerson instead ordered 22-year-old Holly Ashcraft to stand trial on the reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter. She is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 14.

Ashcraft had been charged with murder and child endangerment. The infant was found in October 2005 by a homeless man sifting through garbage behind the 29th Street Cafe, a popular USC hangout.

Prosecutors contend the baby was born alive.

The murder charge was first dismissed in March, with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Wesley ruling that the evidence supported only the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter and child abuse leading to death.

The murder charge ~as refiled, but in June, Mayerson ruled that prosecutors could not proceed with a murder case against Ashcraft because the previous judge had ordered that she stand trial on the involuntary manslaughter charge.

Following Mayerson's dismissal, prosecutors filed court papers seeking to have the murder charge reinstated, claiming the coroner had found evidence that the baby was alive when he was born. A different judge ruled last week
that prosecutors could move ahead with the murder case, but Mayerson tossed the charge again today.

Ashcraft, originally from Billings, Mont., is free on $200,000 bail. She has been suspended by USC pending the outcome of her criminal case.

During Ashcraft's preliminary hearing earlier today, attorneys played a videotape of an interview of Ashcraft by LAPD Detective Moses Castillo. During the interview, Ashcraft said she would never kill a child.

"Who would you suspect of doing something like this?" Castillo asked Ashcraft on the tape. "I don't know," she replied.

Ashcraft also refused to take a lie-detector test because she said they were inaccurate.

"I think it's a bunch of hooey," she said.

Ashcraft also told Castillo she had a previous pregnancy that resulted in a stillbirth in April 2004. She apparently told police investigators she deposited that baby in a trash can at the USC dorms.

That infant's remains were never found, and Ashcraft was never arrested or charged in connection with that case.

Deputy District Attorney Franco Baratta said last week that the first pregnancy shows Ashcraft's knowledge and intent in regards to the second infant.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos had objected to portions of the tape being entered into evidence, claiming Ashcraft's Miranda rights were violated. But Mayerson ruled Ashcraft waived her right to silence.

After the tape was turned off, Castillo told the court the newborn was found inside a box with broken glass inside it.

In his cross-examination, Geragos asked Castillo if he found a single person who stated that Ashcraft looked pregnant in the months leading up to her arrest. Castillo replied no.

He also testified he found no evidence of any baby toys or clothing in Ashcraft's apartment. But he also said he found no evidence that Ashcraft was menstruating, either.

Baratta read an attorneys' agreement out loud that asserted that blood tests showed there was a 99.93 percent likelihood that Ashcraft was the newborn's mother.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)