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Baby Doe, newly born, was found dead on March 19th, 2008.

Naomi Jessica Russell-Simpson, 20, was charged with committing an indignity to a dead human body, neglecting to obtain assistance in childbirth and concealing the body of a child.

charges laid | guilty plea | sentencing announced | sentencing criticised

Homicide detectives and the medical examiner were called out to a north-side home after the body of a baby was found inside a bag.

Emergency medical services were dispatched to a home at 6912 130 Avenue just after 2 p.m. on March 19th, 2008. Upon arrival they found themselves dealing with the suspicious death of an infant.

Police were then called out and immediately homicide detectives and personnel from the medical examiner's office were brought to the scene.

According to neighbours, a young family with three children – a girl about six, a boy about five and a girl about two years old – moved into the bungalow last fall. Few knew a person also lived in the basement.

As the afternoon wore on, crime scene tape was put up around the house and yard ...

... as forensic officers documented the scene ....

... well into the evening.

Two people were seen taken into police custody for questioning, including a woman said to be the baby's mother.

The age and gender of the baby was not officially released but media soon reported the infant was only a day or two old.

News that a baby had died in the house came as a surprise to neighbours.

"Oh ... I didn't even know there was a baby living there to be quite honest," Linda Pyper told CTV Edmonton when informed of the details.

"I knew that there was a family in the top level but somebody was renting the bottom I think," she said.

Media spoke to a man named Wayne who rented the top floor of the home with his girlfriend. Asking that his last name not be used, Wayne said he went to the basement where a woman in her early 20s rents a suite.

Looking under the woman's bed, Wayne found a white, plastic grocery bag. He called out to his girlfriend and together they opened the bag and saw a tiny hand. The rest of the baby's body was wrapped in towels.

Wayne's girlfriend and the woman were friends who went to school together at CDI College. It didn't appear to either of them that the downstairs tenant was pregnant. Wayne added he thought the woman's boyfriend also didn't know of the pregnancy.

Wayne said paramedics told him it appeared the baby had been born alive.

At the time the man didn't explain what initially brought him to the basement and caused him to look under the woman's bed.

The tiny body of the infant was removed from the house early the next morning. Results of an autopsy, completed March 20th, were withheld so as not to interfere with the investigation.

Officials continued to class the death only as suspicious but did reveal the baby was a young girl.

The day after he found the baby, Wayne faced the cameras and spoke of his experience in detail – read more »

Charges laid

Global Edmonton identified the woman at the centre of the story as Naomi Russell-Simpson. CTV Edmonton reported the woman entered hospital to undergo surgery.

On March 25th, 2008 police charged a 20-year-old woman in connection with the baby's death.

Naomi Jessica Russell-Simpson faced charges of committing an indignity to a dead human body, neglecting to obtain assistance in childbirth and concealing the body of a child.

Police said the baby was born alive but did not release any other details of the autopsy.

Detectives were reported to be continuing with the investigation and further charges may be laid. The child's death was not officially declared a homicide and was still considered a suspicious death.

Russell-Simpson was no longer in police custody, a spokesman said. She had made a brief appearance in court and was granted bail of $1,000.00. Released on her own recognizance, her next court appearance was set for April 8th, 2008 for election and plea.

A source told the Edmonton Sun that while Russell-Simpson was a student at the Northgate campus of CDI College she had received offers of assistance from faculty.

School administration declined to either confirm or deny her enrolment, citing privacy laws.

That helped was extended to the woman was also confirmed by the man who found the baby.

Wayne told the Sun, "She had lots of help. Everyone offered to help."

He described Russell-Simpson as a "pleasant and nice" young woman, adding she was quiet. She kept to herself and often stayed at her boyfriend's.

Wayne was puzzled why the woman chose to give birth at home. The man also said he was still troubled by his discovery of the tiny body.

"I didn't see it coming," he said. "I haven't been sleeping too good."

On April 8th, 2008 a lawyer made a brief appearance in court to set a new date for Russell-Simpson. A judge set aside May 15th.

At the time, detectives had not yet declared the baby's death a homicide and still considered it suspicious. A police spokesman said the investigation was still ongoing and that further charges could be laid.

Under the charges, Naomi Russell-Simpson could face a number of penalties if found guilty – read more »

Committing an indignity to a dead body carries a maximum sentence of five years.

Neglecting to obtain assistance in childbirth carries a maximum penalty of five years. The charge presumes that a woman gives birth "with intent that the child shall not live or with intent to conceal the birth of as child, fails to make provision for reasonable assistance," according to the Criminal Code of Canada. The charge also includes the provision that the child died or is permanently injured during or just after labour.

Concealing the body of a child carries a maximum sentence of two years.

CTV Edmonton spoke with defence lawyer Ed O'Neill about the rarely-laid charge of neglecting to obtain assistance in childbirth and why it may have been chosen over murder or manslaughter.

"I'm speculating, but it's an appropriate charge as well when the child dies shortly after birth and in those circumstances if there's evidence of that and there's evidence that the mother failed to do what was reasonable under the circumstances to effect a proper delivery," O'Neill said.

Had evidence indicated otherwise, police and the Crown Prosecutor's office could have charged Russell-Simpson with infanticide. The Criminal Code defines that act as a type of homicide that is excluded from murder.

A female person commits infanticide when by a wilful act or omission she causes the death of her newly-born child, if at the time of the act or omission she is not fully recovered from the effects of giving birth to the child and by reason thereof or of the effect of lactation consequent on the birth of the child her mind is then disturbed.

Every female person who commits infanticide is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

-- The Criminal Code of Canada

The Edmonton Sun consulted University of Alberta law professor Sanjeev Anand who felt it was time to treat infanticide as murder or manslaughter. His comments were made before the charges against Russell-Simpson were laid.

"Really, what we're talking about is women who are depressed because of their postpartum situation," said Anand.

Edmonton criminologist Bill Pitt was also asked by the Sun for his explanation of the charges.

"It means there's no evidence to proceed with infanticide or homicide, so they have to go with the lesser charges," he said. "And it all comes down to intent, and if there was no provable intent, then they can't lay the charge – it's as simple as that."

Pitt said police could consider charges of second-degree murder or manslaughter but onlt after a number of factors were taken into account.

"It could be a variety of issues, perhaps diminished responsibility," he said. "We don't know what the mother was like.

"There's always the mental concern of young mothers to consider following childbirth, and whether there is a diminished responsibility there."

"There is discretion built into the criminal-justice system," Pitt said. "So, there's latitude that the police have in laying the charge, there's latitude in how the Crown is going to proceed on a charge.

"And if it goes to the next level, to Corrections Canada and jail time, they have discretion, too."

Not to be outdone in the legal department, CBC Edmonton quoted prominent defence lawyer Robert Davidson as speculating it was Russell-Simpson's emotional state that likely convinced authorities not to charge her with infanticide.

"The investigation conducted by the police caused them to come to the conclusion – and the conclusion was shared by the Crown prosecutor's office who would have reviewed the investigation – that the death of the child was not willful or intentional," Davidson said.

Police last dealt with the murder of a child in January 2007.

Toddler Doe, 3, was found beaten to death while in foster care at a home near 157th Street and 78th Avenue.

A 32-year-old woman was charged with second-degree murder, assault causing bodily harm, aggravated assault, duty of persons to provide necessaries [failure to provide the necessities of life] and child abandonment. Neither the child or the woman could be identified under provisions of Alberta's Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act.

Guilty plea

On March 7th, 2009 Naomi Jessica Russell-Simpson pleaded guilty to failing to obtain assistance in childbirth and concealing the body of a child.

A pre-sentence report and psychiatric assessment were ordered and a sentencing hearing was set for June 22nd.

As part of the plea, a statement of agreed facts was read into the record.

Russell-Simpson became pregnant in mid-2007 while studying massage therapy at CDI College. At the time she was living in the basement of the northside home of a classmate.

Several months before giving birth in March 2008, various people, including her boyfriend, began asking her if she was pregnant. Russell-Simpson denied it.

She later told a detective she believed the weight gain was due to her cutting back on exercise.

She also had been taking oral contraceptives since she was a teenager and did so during her 10-month relationship with her boyfriend.

She admitted that she had her pregnancy was medically confirmed a month or two prior to the birth. However she did not know how far along she was. She did not tell anyone and continued to menstruate throughout her pregnancy. She also continued to deny it.

On March 18, 2008 she stayed home from school, feeling ill. That evening, she watched a hockey game on TV, spoke with her boyfriend on the phone and went to bed.

At about 2:30 a.m. the next morning, she awoke to severe cramping and went to the bathroom. She then noticed blood and felt severe pain. She quickly realised that she was delivering the baby.

Russell-Simpson told police the labour was fast and the baby came out. She said she grabbed a towel and after clearing the infant's face she noticed the baby was not moving.

She wrapped the infant in the towel and placed her in the sink. She ran water over the baby's face to try and wake her. She said she also tried blowing into the newborn's mouth, but she did not respond.

By morning, Russell-Simpson said she got up, had a shower and got dressed.

Thinking the newborn dead, she put the baby and blankets into a plastic bag. She put the bag under the bed and left for school.

She later said she wanted to speak to her boyfriend before doing anything else.

Police were called after her classmate's boyfriend ended up downstairs in her room and saw the bag. Arriving paramedics pronounced the infant dead.

Officers took Russell-Simpson into custody at CDI College later that day. She was interviewed and then taken to hospital where doctors found she was haemorrhaging as part of the placenta was still inside her. Surgery was performed to remove it.

An autopsy determined the infant had been born alive at 40 weeks, had drawn breath and was free of birth defects, obvious injuries or disease.

Sentencing announced

On August 13th, 2009 Naomi Russell-Simpson was given an 18-month conditional sentence to be served in the community after Judge Peter Caffaro accepted a joint submission from Crown and defence lawyers.

Crown prosecutor Shelley Bykewich said there was no proof of infanticide.

A pre-sentence report was entered but Caffaro accepted defence lawyer Walter Raponi's request to not have the information made public.

Such reports usually contain a person's personal and psychological history, and is used to help determine a sentence.

Several conditions were attached to Russell-Simpson's sentence.

During the first year, she must abide by a curfew and perform 30 hours of community service.

Russell-Simpson was also to undergo psychiatric treatment, maintain employment or attend school, and abstain from consuming alcohol during the term.

The 21-year-old appeared in court with her mother. They left the Law Courts building quickly ...

... understandably declining media requests for an interview.

Sentencing criticised

Perhaps anticipating a public outcry, Judge Peter Caffaro seemed to offer a justification for his decision.

“It is not inconsistent with the principles of sentencing,” Caffaro said.

For one court observer, it seemed the only fair punishment available – read more »

"I think the reality is, is this is a case of what the Crown could prove," University of Alberta law professor Sanjeev Anand told Global Edmonton.

The Criminal Code defines infanticide as a type of homicide that is excluded from murder.

A female person commits infanticide when by a wilful act or omission she causes the death of her newly-born child, if at the time of the act or omission she is not fully recovered from the effects of giving birth to the child and by reason thereof or of the effect of lactation consequent on the birth of the child her mind is then disturbed.

Every female person who commits infanticide is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

-- The Criminal Code of Canada

Neglecting to obtain assistance in childbirth is a charge that presumes that a woman gives birth "with intent that the child shall not live or with intent to conceal the birth of as child, fails to make provision for reasonable assistance," according to the Criminal Code. The charge also includes the provision that the child died or is permanently injured during or just after labour.

Anand said that because there was no evidence that a violent act took place, the sentence Caffaro awarded was appropriate. He added that if infanticide could have been proven, imprisonment would have been unlikely.

"Even that situation doesn't usually call for a jail term. And here we're one step removed from that.

"In this situation there's no indication that an unlawful act causing death was committed by the young mother – it's really an offence of negligence."

With regard to the woman's future, Anand appeared optimistic.

"One would say, that she poses a danger – at most – if she were to get pregnant in like circumstances again.

"But quite frankly, her brush with the criminal justice system would probably deter her."

However, local criminologist Bill Pitt was puzzled why Russell-Simpson didn't face the more serious charge of infanticide.

"I think there was enough fact to proceed," Pitt told the Edmonton Sun. "With a little bit more focus and effort she could have been charged with infanticide."

Pitt also took issue with the conditional sentence Russell-Simpson received which didn't impose a jail term – citing the recent case of Katrina Effert.

The Wetaskiwin woman was given a life sentence after being convicted of second-degree murder in the underwear strangulation death of her newborn son.

"There's quite a disparity between this result and the Effert case," Pitt noted, conceding the facts in that case were somewhat more severe.

"I think if the Crown had gone to a jury you would have seen a different result."

The Sun balanced Pitt's position with further comments from U of A law professor Sanjeev Anand who said infanticide required evidence of an act on the mother's behalf to cause death.

"One could infer the Crown could have had difficulty proving there was a live birth or they didn't have evidence she perpetuated a violent act," Anand said.

"I don't think you can lay the blame on the Crown. In cases like this evidence is often equivocal," he said, adding Crown must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Alberta Justice spokesman David Dear told the Sun the sentencing decision and the guilty pleas were made after prosecutors considered a number of factors, including case law and Russell-Simpson's personal circumstances.

"This is a tragic case involving the death of a child," he said. "They agreed that the plea and the conditional sentence for it were appropriate."

Had the child survived, she would have been 17 months old at the time of Russell-Simpson's sentencing.

deadmonton 2008 - baby doe