AZUSA : Mother Gets 11 Years in Death of Infant Son
An Azusa child-care worker was sentenced Wednesday to 11 years in state prison for the death of her newborn son.
The sentence given to Linda Philhower, 23, in Pomona Superior Court followed her no contest plea May 13 to voluntary manslaughter charges after a mistrial was declared. Jurors acquitted her of first-degree murder but could not reach a verdict on lesser charges.
A single woman who lived at home with her mother and stepfather, Philhower concealed her pregnancy and gave birth to an eight-pound boy alone at home in her bathroom on Dec. 29, 1990. Afterward, she wrapped the baby in a towel and put him inside a dresser, where his body was found 11 days later. Philhower told detectives that the baby was stillborn. But medical evidence at the trial indicated that the infant was breathing after birth.
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