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State’s high court won’t hear appeal in baby death case

Posted at 10:06 PM, Feb 20, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-20 22:06:31-05

LEBANON, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by a former high school cheerleader charged with killing and burying her newborn baby.

Lawyers for Brooke Skylar Richardson appealed to the high court after a lower court ruled doctors can testify in the Warren County case. Ohio’s Supreme Court on Wednesday declined jurisdiction.

Richardson’s attorneys wanted prosecutors barred from presenting testimony from an obstetrics-gynecology practice’s staff, citing physician-patient privilege.

The lower court’s ruling last year said the public interest in detecting crimes to protect society outweighed doctor-patient privilege in this case.

Prosecutors said the now 19-year-old Richardson buried the full-term baby shortly after giving birth in May 2017.

Richardson, of Carlisle, has pleaded not guilty to charges including aggravated murder.

A message seeking comment was left for her attorney.

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