CYA DENIED FOR TEEN MOTHER NEWBORN'S DEATH BRINGS PROBATION.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

SYLMAR - A 16-year-old Palmdale girl who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of her newborn baby was ordered Wednesday to perform 150 hours of community service and undergo psychiatric counseling.

Prosecutors argued for confinement in a California Youth Authority facility, but Juvenile Court Judge Morton Rochman sentenced her to serve probation at home, the girl's attorney said.

``We argued for home on probation. The D.A. spent a half-hour arguing for CYA,'' attorney David Wallin said. ``The judge agreed with us that she should get home on probation and that CYA would not be appropriate for her.''

The girl, whose name was not released because of her age, was charged with murder in the November 1999 death of her baby. She was convicted in October of involuntary manslaughter.

She was 15 when she gave birth alone at home.

``It was a very traumatic thing that happened. She has to deal with the reality of what happened,'' Wallin said.

The girl put the baby in a plastic bag and then placed it in a closet after she gave birth in a bathroom, officials said. The cause of death, according to the coroner, was suffocation.

At birth, the baby fell into the toilet, and the girl pulled it out, thinking it was dead, Wallin said earlier. The baby suffocated in the bag, based on the evidence presented at the trial.

A cousin of the girl who testified for the defense said she told him before giving birth that she was planning to either put the baby up for adoption or keep it.

Wallin said before the trial that his client had no prenatal care or counseling, did not know what was going on when labor began, and endured tremendous pain and trauma.

Authorities were alerted to the baby's death after the girl sought medical treatment following the delivery, prosecutors said. After the girl put the baby in the closet, she began to hemorrhage and passed out from the loss of blood.