Drexler, who got her high school diploma in but did not attend graduation, took fashion courses while in prison and hopes to work in the industry, said her lawyer, Steven Secare. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. How does 60 or 90 days change the morality of the action?
Jesus Christ was born in a manger and, as an infant, he was hunted down for execution by King Herod. But in the fullness of time, Jesus bore our sin while on the cross. Now, those who bear him in their hearts feel sorrow for sin and find salvation from it. That offer goes out to everyone, no matter what they have done or who they did it to.
Christopher Drexler—born twenty years ago today—we remember you. May reflecting on your brief, snuffed out life lead to our national repentance. Click here for reprint permission. Click to Read More and View Comments. As Radar readers know, on June 6, , Drexler was 18 years old when she suddenly entered her high school bathroom during prom and gave birth to a baby boy. It was later revealed that the teenager managed to hide her nine-month pregnancy from loved ones and her even then-boyfriend, John Lewis.
Ultimately, Drexler was sentenced to 15 years in prison but released on parole after serving three years behind bars. Click through the gallery to find out more about her new post-prison life. During her senior year high school prom, Drexler suddenly entered a bathroom stall and went into labor. Michael Baden, who was brought in by Mr. Secare and Donald A. Venezia, the defense lawyers, differed on their explanation for this. Baden argued that it was possible that the child was stillborn and the air found in the lungs was put there by emergency medical technicians who tried to resuscitate the baby when they arrived about an hour after the birth.
Speaking about Ms. Drexler's likely sentence, Mr. Kaye did note that if the baby's death had taken place three days later, she would have been subject to a new state law that requires that those convicted serve at least 80 percent of their sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
New Jersey Charges Woman, 18, With Killing Baby Born at Prom By Robert hanley - The New York Times June 25, The New Jersey teen-ager who gave birth in a bathroom stall at her senior prom was charged with murder today after the authorities concluded that she had delivered a healthy boy, cut the umbilical cord, choked him and put him in a plastic bag that she knotted and threw away. The woman, Melissa Drexler, 18, of Forked River, was charged after an autopsy determined she had choked the baby and smothered him either with her hands or with the plastic bag, said John Kaye, the Monmouth County Prosecutor.
In the midst of it, Mr. Kaye said today, a girlfriend who had heard sounds from the bathroom stall asked Miss Drexler if she felt ill. The Prosecutor said she replied: ''I'll be done pretty soon. Go tell the boys we'll be right out. A few minutes later, leaving blood on the floor of the bathroom stall, Miss Drexler went to the dance floor with her boyfriend and prom date, John Lewis, ate a salad and danced one dance.
The case -- which recalled that of another New Jersey teen-ager, Amy Grossberg, and her boyfriend, Brian Peterson, who were charged with killing their newborn son in a motel and discarding his body -- stunned Miss Drexler's friends and relatives and attracted headlines across the country. Those who knew her said they had no idea the high school senior was pregnant. In her hometown in southern New Jersey, there was little sympathy for Miss Drexler.
Most people agreed with the sentiments of Michelle Donally, a year-old neighbor, who said, ''My heart goes out to her parents, but not to her. On June 6, the night of the prom, Miss Drexler initially denied giving birth when teachers came up to her and others who had been in the women's bathroom to ask about the blood in the bathroom stall.
Miss Drexler replied that she was having a heavy menstrual flow, Mr. A few minutes later, after the baby's body had been found in an outside trash bin at the prom site, the Garden Manor in Aberdeen, Miss Drexler told teachers she had given birth. Kaye said Dr. Jay Peacock, an assistant county medical examiner, had established the cause of death as ''asphyxia due to manual strangulation and obstruction of the external airway orifices. Peacock was unable to determine if the baby was dead or alive when he was placed inside the bag and a knot was tied at the top of the bag, Mr.
Besides the murder charge, which carries a sentence of 30 years to life, Miss Drexler was accused of endangering the welfare of a child, a second-degree crime in New Jersey with a penalty of 5 to 10 years. Kaye dismissed suggestions that the endangering charge was a fall-back position for his office, and said it would be merged with the murder charge when the case was presented to a Monmouth County grand jury in about a month.
Kaye said it was unlikely that his office would seek the death penalty, because of Miss Drexler's age, her lack of a criminal record and what he called ''the stress and extreme emotional disturbance'' of the birth. She said little as the judge explained her legal rights.
After Miss Drexler left the courthouse with her father, her lawyer, Steven Secare, said his client was not guilty. He declined further comment because, he said, his own investigation was not yet complete. He said Dr. Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist in New York, had conducted a separate autopsy on the baby's body at the request of the Drexler family. In addition, he said, a Pennsylvania psychiatrist, Dr. Robert Sadoff, had examined Miss Drexler. Secare said he is awaiting both reports.
Baden said in an interview later today that ''the autopsy findings are ambiguous as to whether the baby was alive, because of all the resuscitation that was performed. The resuscitation efforts caused changes in the baby's body, he said, and the birth process might have caused additional changes. Baden said. Miss Drexler, an only child, arrived home with her parents shortly before 4 P.
A crowd of reporters, some with television cameras, on the otherwise quiet street of neat ranch houses called out to her. But Miss Drexler, wearing a sun dress and dark glasses, merely threw her hands in the air, then went inside, bending down to pet her dog on the way. At a news conference this morning, Mr. Peacock was satisfied that the baby was alive and breathing after the birth because Dr.
Peacock had found air in the baby's lungs and intestines. Kaye said of the air in the intestines. The Prosecutor said the medical findings were critical to the state's case, because investigators had not found any witnesses who saw the birth, heard any screams from Miss Drexler or cries from the baby, or saw who placed the bag containing the baby in the bathroom's trash receptacle nine feet from the stall where the birth occurred.
Kaye said he was convinced that only Miss Drexler knew of her pregnancy.
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