Nov 10, 2005 1:54 am US/Pacific
Mother Of Discarded Newborn Pleads Innocent
by Paul Dandridge
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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Holly Ashcraft, 21, is charged with one count each of murder and child abuse.
A USC student pleaded innocent to murder and child abuse charges that she allegedly dumped her newborn son in a trash bin in an alley last month.
Bail for 21-year-old Holly Ashcraft was lowered to $200,000 from $2 million after Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner James N. Bianco received several dozen letters from relatives and friends on behalf of the Billings, Mont.-native.
The commissioner ordered Ashcraft be electronically monitored, to have another adult present if she is in the presence of any children 16 or younger and to remain in Los Angeles County while her case is pending. One exception is that Ashcraft can visit her attorney's Orange County office if she able to post bail.
Ashcraft was charged Oct. 13 with one count each of murder and child abuse in the death of her newborn son. She has been in custody since her arrest two days later.
Ashcraft was reportedly on full-tuition scholarship at USC and has been suspended from the university pending the outcome of the case.
A homeless man called police anonymously after finding Ashcraft's baby in a trash bin near the student's apartment. He later came forward to tell authorities what he saw.
Ashcraft was charged Oct. 13 with one count each of murder and child abuse in the death of "Baby John Doe .171," and has been jailed since her arrest two days earlier.
Ashcraft -- who was reportedly on a full-tuition scholarship at USC and has been suspended from the university pending the outcome of the case -- is accused of leaving her newborn son in a trash bin near her apartment north of the USC campus.
A homeless man picking through the trash discovered the infant and called police anonymously, then came forward to tell authorities what he saw.
(© 2005 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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