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EUREKA — A California woman accused of killing her infant son by breastfeeding him after she used methamphetamine has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
The Times-Standard of Eureka reports ( http://bit.ly/xjgmdh) that Maggie Wortman entered her plea Monday as part of a deal with prosecutors.
An autopsy on 6-week-old Michael Acosta III found that the infant died of "methamphetamine toxicity" on Nov. 21, 2010.
Prosecutors initially tried to charge Wortman with murder, saying she should have known the dangers of breastfeeding after smoking the drug. But a judge threw out the charge, saying there was insufficient evidence to support it.
Deputy District Attorney Ben McLaughlin had said he planned to re-file the murder charge, if Wortman didn't accept the plea deal.
She faces anywhere from probation to nearly 12 years in prison when she's sentenced March 5.
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Information from: Times-Standard, http://www.times-standard.com
