01 May 2023 , 22:26
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A teenage mum has been sentenced after throwing her newborn baby into a rubbish bin behind a shopping centre.
The young New Mexico mother was sentenced on Monday, May 1, to a mandatory 18 years in prison for the offence, but a state district judge suspended two years of the punishment - citing mental health concerns and the defendant's age.
19-year-old Alexis Avila was convicted by jurors of child abuse involving great bodily harm following a trial which lasted days last month. During the trial, her public defender argued her actions were not premeditated and a previously undiagnosed mental health disorder played a role.
Judge William Shoobridge told Avila that had it not been for luck and the grace of God, he would be instead deliberating a sentence in a murder case as there was a high chance the child would not have survived had it not been found that same winter day in Hobbs, near the Texas border.
19-year-old Alexis Avila was handed a mandatory 18 year prison sentence for throwing her newborn baby in a rubbish binAvila told the judge she wants to learn how to cope with stress and anxiety and says she regrets missing out on her son's first milestones.
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"I regret his first hours of life were traumatic, and I regret that he will always have this in the back of his head and will think I do not love him because that's what he'll read and hear," she said. "But that's not true at all. I do love him. I truly do."
The teen mum was arrested in January last year, 2022, after a group of people looking through the trash bin came across the baby boy. Police said they tried to keep the child warm until police and paramedics arrived.
Investigators tracked Avila down by using surveillance video to identify a car suspected of being involved, which led them to Avila.
Investigators used surveillance footage to track down Alexis AvilaHer public defender, Ibukun Adepoju disputed the idea that Avila made a premeditated attempt to kill her baby. Abepoju said that while her actions were wrong, they were the result of her bipolar disorder and that she was disassociated and detached from her feelings.
The case sparked new conversations in New Mexico communities and among legislators about the state's 'Safe Haven' law. The law allows parents to leave a baby less than 90 days old at a safe location without facing criminal consequences.
Laws of this type began to pass in state legislatures in the early 2000s as a response to baby killings and abandonments.
In 2022, New Mexico lawmakers approved a bill to expand the state's Safe Haven Program and provide funds to build one baby box for every county where an infant can be left.
Several other states have also installed boxes, with Florida being the latest to consider legislation that would allow for the Safe Haven boxes.