TRAGEDY

California Woman Cleared of Murder Charge in Home Birth Speaks Out: Report

Kelsey Carpenter pleaded to a lesser charge last month, and with time served, could be free as early as January, her lawyers said.

A California woman who was arrested after her baby died during a 2020 home birth could be out of jail as early as next month, her lawyers said. Last month, prosecutors dropped a second-degree murder charge against Kelsey Carpenter, 34, who gave birth alone in her apartment, passed out due to blood loss, and woke up to find the infant dead. A coroner ruled that the death had been an “accident,” but attributed it to “methamphetamine and buprenorphine exposure and unattended delivery.” In court, law enforcement officials acknowledged that it was not illegal to have an unattended home birth nor for Carpenter, who was receiving treatment for substance abuse issues at the time, to use buprenorphine. After prosecutors relinquished the murder charge, Carpenter pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of child endangerment last month and was sentenced to two years behind bars. With time served, her attorneys said last week, she could be released with no probationary conditions by January. In a statement from jail on Sunday, Carpenter told The Guardian, “I don’t want other pregnant women to experience what for me was the worst experience of my life. I lost my child, and then I was prosecuted.”