Mother convicted of smothering baby loses appeal

CONCORD (AP) — A mother sentenced to prison for suffocating her baby lost an appeal to the state Supreme Court on Monday.

Jessica Fleetwood is serving an 18-year prison sentence for the January 2000 death of her 2-month-old son, Skylar. She appealed her second-degree murder conviction, arguing that neither her statements to police nor the medical examiner's testimony should have been used against her at trial.

The state Supreme Court, however, upheld a lower court's decision that the evidence was admissible.

At her trial, Fleetwood argued that the baby died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, but in a written confession, she said she held the infant to her chest for 15 minutes until he stopped breathing.

In the written confession presented to the jury, Fleetwood wrote: "I seized the opportunity and took out my frustrations by smothering him into my chest."

Her lawyer said she made incriminating statements, while blaming herself, as parents do in crib death cases. An earlier son was stillborn.