A case against an Ohio woman who gave birth to a stillborn will now go before a grand jury as prosecutors have accused her of abusing her baby’s corpse by trying to “plunge” it down a toilet.
Brittany Watts, 33, has been accused of the felony charge after clogging a toilet with her baby and leaving the child there while “she went on with her day,” prosecutors said.
However, forensic pathologist, George Sterbenz, testified the fetus was “non-viable” due to “premature ruptured membranes” as Watts water broke early, according to WKBN.
“The fetus was too young to be delivered,” Sterbenz said.
The forensic pathologist added that the autopsy report found no injury to the fetus and the baby had died before passing through the birth canal.
Watts says she felt the baby coming out at 22 weeks and then there was a “big splash,” according to the local outlet. Prosecutors alleged she tried to “plunge” the toilet afterward and left the baby for dead in the toilet.
Law enforcement officials found the baby in the toilet inside her home on Sept. 22.
“The issue isn’t how the child died, when the child died — it’s the fact that the baby was put into a toilet, large enough to clog up a toilet, left in that toilet, and she went on [with] her day,” said prosecutor Lewis Guarnieri.
Watts was charged with abuse of a corpse and she pleaded not guilty. She has been released on a $5,000 bond.
Her attorney, Traci Timko, says Watts is being “demonized for something that goes on every day,” according to WKBN.
Watts had asked for the case to be dismissed but was denied. Watts was overcome with emotion after hearing her felony case would proceed to a grand jury, according to WKBN.