Baby's mom pleads guilty Lehighton woman charged in deathof 6-week-old son
A Lehighton woman charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of her infant son who suffocated while in bed with her has agreed to plead guilty to that charge and a related charge in Carbon County Court.
Court papers say an autopsy determined the baby died "from asphyxia (overlay while co-sleeping), and the manner of this death has been determined to be homicide."Tory Lyn Schlier, 20, of North Seventh Street, Lehighton, was scheduled to have a hearing Friday morning before District Judge Edward J. Lewis of Jim Thorpe.She is also charged with endangering the welfare of children.Just before the start of the hearing, Carbon County District Attorney Jean Engler told Lewis a plea agreement had been reached.Schlier is incarcerated at the Carbon County Correctional Facility in lieu of $100,000 straight bail.Lewis said the bail amount will not be changed.Schlier's son, 6-week-old Brayden Allen Cummings, died on Oct. 17. Lehighton Borough Police were summoned to her residence at 8:58 a.m. on Oct. 17 and found the baby unconscious.The baby was transferred to the Gnaden Huetten Campus of Blue Mountain Health System and pronounced dead at 9:15 a.m.The affidavit said Schlier told Lehighton police she had fed the baby a bottle in her bed between 7:30 and 8 a.m.A blood test revealed that she had amphetamine, methamphetamine, Alprazolam (Xanax), and Methadone in her system.The baby had a prescription for methadone, which the mother told police was administered at 10 o'clock the night before.Court papers say Schlier admitted to taking two bars of Xanax, which was not prescribed, on the afternoon of Oct. 16, and told police she was "high" when she administered the baby his prescribed dose.The affidavit says, "She also admitted to taking methamphetamines, which she was not prescribed, but did not recall when she had last taken it. She further admitted to being 'fuzzy' while she was under the influence of these controlled substances in the morning of Oct. 17, when she brought the victim into bed and fell asleep holding him along side her body."Arresting officer trooper Nicolas de la Iglesia of the Lehighton barracks of the state police said, in the affidavit, that "Schlier is responsible for this death due to her reckless and or grossly negligent actions of abusing narcotics for recreational purposes while caring for an infant, and falling asleep upon him causing him to asphyxiate."