Sarah Tatum_20100907211833_JPG

Sarah Tatum

  • Marketplace Ads

Ex-UofA Student Enters Plea in Baby Abuse Case

Updated: Tuesday, 07 Sep 2010, 8:18 PM MST
Published : Tuesday, 07 Sep 2010, 3:39 PM MST

TUCSON - A former University of Arizona student accused of trying to kill her newborn after delivering the child in a dormitory shower last year has entered a plea deal in the case.

Pima County prosecutors say Sarah Tatum agreed to plead guilty Tuesday to aggravated assault and child abuse with death or serious injury likely. Prosecutors say the Scottsdale woman facing anywhere from probation to 15 years in prison when she's sentenced at a future date.

Tatum was a 19-year-old sophomore when she was arrested on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder and child abuse in late February 2009.

University police say they discovered the full-term infant inside a plastic bag at the foot of Tatum's bloody bed after responding to a call from a dorm employee. The 7-pound baby had been gasping for breath.

The Scottsdale woman initially told officers she "had miscarried."

A physician reported the baby was suffering from hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, and estimated that he had been in the bag at least two hours.

  • Add Your Comments Here

Keep your comments civil - MyFOXPhoenix.com reserves the right to remove comments that are obscene, profane, abusive, hateful, racist, spam, "trolling," or otherwise inappropriate. Repeat offenders will be banned. If you see such comments, report them to us by flagging them. (Click on 'Flag' beneath a post -- hover your mouse below the post's text for it to appear.)

 

Comments should be flagged for: spamming, violating our commenting policy, being clearly unrelated and attacking other commenters personally. Comments should not be flagged for: Disagreeing with the content or disputes with other commenters.

 

Be sure to refer to our Terms of Service.

 

Stay on topic: Don't discuss an entirely different subject or spam the section asking about another story. Send us an e-mail instead. Continue to spam comment sections and your acccount will be banned. Keep your posts brief and to the point. Remember this is a comment section, not your personal blog.

 

When posting a comment on myfoxphoenix.com, a valid e-mail address, Facebook, Yahoo!, OpenID or Twitter account is necessary. The e-mail is not available for viewers to see. You will be required to verify the e-mail address before posting a comment. Users with third party logins (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) are already considered verified accounts.

 

Choose a user name you'll remember - don't use your real name unless you want it to be known.

 

Accounts that use obscenities in their user names and/or avatar pictures are not allowed.

 

To avoid your posts being labeled as spam, simply provide a link to an article instead of copying and pasting the entire text. 

 

Posts with obscenities will be removed by moderators.

 

Click here if you need help signing up for an account or using your profile.

 

Comments Powered By Disqus

Top Stories

Popular

Most Commented

Advertisement
  • Suggested Search
  • Marketplace Ads