(PatriotWise.com) — Massachusetts’ highest court on Monday reinstated the conviction of a woman who killed a pregnant friend and cut the baby from her body in 2009, WCVB reported.
Julie Corey was initially found guilty in 2014 of first-degree murder in connection to the July 2009 death of Darlene Haynes.
Prosecutors accused Corey of attacking the 23-year-old Haynes when she was eight months pregnant. Corey, who had miscarried three months earlier, then cut the unborn child out of Haynes’ womb and told her family and boyfriend that the baby was hers.
Haynes’ body was found on July 27, 2009, hidden in a closet in her apartment. She sustained beating injuries to her head, was strangled with an electrical cord, and her belly was cut open.
Police caught up with Corey and her boyfriend, Alex Dion, two days later while they were staying with the baby at a Plymouth, New Hampshire, homeless shelter.
The defense acknowledged that Corey was arrested with the child but claimed that she had nothing to do with the murder.
They argued that the police failed to follow up on other possible suspects in the murder, including Darlene Haynes’ ex-boyfriend. The defense suggested that her ex-boyfriend gave the baby to Alex Dion.
Dion denied the allegation during testimony.
Following her February 2014 conviction, Corey filed a motion for a new trial, arguing that she received ineffective counsel in the initial trial. The trial judge rejected the motion but vacated Corey’s first-degree murder conviction, ruling that there was insufficient evidence to prove aggravated kidnapping.
Cory appealed the trial judge’s decision to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Prosecutors also appealed the trial judge’s order to vacate the conviction.
On Monday, the Supreme Judicial Court sided with prosecutors and reinstated the first-degree murder conviction.
In their decision, the justices said they disagreed with Corey’s claim that she received ineffective counsel and agreed with prosecutors that there was sufficient evidence to convict Corey of felony murder with aggravated kidnapping.
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