U.S. Soldier Admits Leaving Baby to Die
A U.S. soldier charged with murder has admitted she left her month-old daughter alone at her base to die while she went off for three weeks of home leave, an Army spokeswoman said Friday.
Private Cassie Byrd, 21, from Albany, Ga., faces possible life imprisonment for leaving her daughter, Acilen, alone in a dark closet in her military apartment in Ansbach near Nuremberg last June, the spokeswoman said.
The sobbing soldier admitted to a court-martial Thursday that she willfully left the baby to die and only reported the death two days after her return.
Asked by the court-martial judge what she intended to happen to the baby, Byrd replied, “That she die.”
Byrd is due to be sentenced March 16. Under military law, the crime carries a minimum sentence of life imprisonment.
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