A second Los Angeles judge threw out the murder charge against a suspended USC student accused of killing her newborn child on Tuesday.
Holly Ashcraft, a 22-year-old architecture major who has stood trial for two years, still faces a June 27 hearing for one charge of child abuse.
Ashcraft was arrested in October 2005 after a newborn was found in a Dumpster behind the 29th Street Cafe. DNA evidence proved it was her son.
Prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Franco Barrata had cited a coroner's conclusion that the baby was born alive, but defense attorney Mark Geragos had repeatedly challenged that assertion in court.
"I'm extremely pleased," Geragos said of the ruling. "Obviously [the Ashcraft family is] delighted, and I'm happy for them."
Judge Samuel Mayerson concluded that he couldn't "second-guess" Judge David Wesley's decision to dismiss the murder charge and impose a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, Geragos said.
Barrata had responded to Wesley's decision by requesting the case to be dismissed, and subsequently refiled the murder charge against Ashcraft.
Judge Mayerson ruled the case had been dismissed twice and therefore couldn't proceed, Geragos said.
This was a reversal of Mayerson's opinion on Monday, when he indicated the case could go to trial but reserved final judgment for a Tuesday ruling, according to multiple media reports.
The child abuse charge against Ashcraft remains, but Geragos said he was hopeful "that cooler heads will prevail" and prosecutors wouldn't pursue that lone remaining charge in the case.
Barrata was not available for comment, but spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons of the district attorney's office said the ruling would be submitted to a Los Angeles Superior Court panel for review.
Based on the panel's analysis of the ruling, the district attorney's office would consider a writ of appeal, Gibbons said.
The case had prominently featured expert testimony by deputy medical examiner David B. Whiteman, who said the deceased infant's lungs were partially inflated, indicating a live birth.
But two medical experts from USC's Keck School of Medicine reviewed the final autopsy report and found little evidence of a live birth.
Dr. Joan E. Hodgman, a professor of pediatrics in the Keck School with 40 years of experience examining newborn deaths, went so far as to call the case "a miscarriage of justice" against Ashcraft.
"My opinion is clear that the murder of the infant on the part of the mother is unlikely and in no way proven by the evidence provided," she wrote in an e-mail in February.
The case saw a number of delays and changes in representation. Ashcraft dismissed defense attorney Paul J. Wallin in April 2006 and replaced his firm with Geragos. The case's original prosecutor was also appointed to a state position in September 2006, leading to Barrata handling the case.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Ashcraft was investigated in 2004 for similar charges after she showed up at Good Samaritan Hospital having recently given birth, but without a baby.
She said the baby was stillborn, and police could never find the baby's body to verify her claim, the Times reported.
Throughout the course of the case, the baby's father was never identified.
At Ashcraft's arraignment in November 2005, nearly two-dozen family and friends showed up for support, and 36 letters were submitted to the judge on Ashcraft's behalf.
"She's one of those memorable kids," said Burton Pierce, Ashcraft's high school guidance counselor. "Probably [ranks in] the top 10 kids of all time that I've ever worked with academically."
"Everyone [at the firm] couldn't be happier for her," said Wallin, who had also advised Ashcraft during the 2004 investigation.
"She's a wonderful young lady," he added. "From the very beginning of the case. … We always believed 100 percent that the district attorney would never be able to prove a homicide charge with the evidence in this case."
There has been no indication if Ashcraft will return to USC as a student.
