PORT JERVIS – Nicole Layman, the 22-year-old Port Jervis woman who gave birth to a baby girl last November and left her to die in a parking lot, could have given her up safely without any legal repercussions. Instead, the young woman is in the Orange County Jail on a murder charge.
Port Jervis Police Chief William Worden said state law would have allowed her to anonymously abandon her child under certain conditions.
“The law allows a parent to abandon a newborn baby up to 30 days of age anonymously and without fear of prosecution provided, A, the baby is abandoned in a safe manner, the parent is not guilty of a crime if the infant is left with an appropriate person or in a suitable location and that the parent properly notifies an appropriate person of that infant’s location,” he said.
A suitable location is defined as one that is staffed 24-hours a day such as a police station, fire department or church.
Sophia Grace Hadden, though, was left unclothed with her umbilical cord partially attached and authorities said the little child died from being left out in the cold.
