GUILTY PA - Jessica Harper charged in death of infant son, Lancaster County, 12 July 2016

September 10, 2016

Mother charged with homicide after death of 2nd infant


A mother charged five years ago in the suffocation death of one child is now facing a criminal homicide charge in the death of a second child in Pennsylvania.

Twenty-eight-year-old Jessica Harper was arraigned Thursday in Lancaster County in the July death of her 2-month-old son. Authorities allege that Harper "chose to disregard the risks" despite warnings about sleeping with a newborn.


Prosecutors cited the January 2011 death of another 2-month-old son who suffocated on a Maryland couch.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 20

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/09/10/mother-charged-with-homicide-after-death-2nd-infant.html

September 9, 2016
10:04 AM EDT

Mother charged with homicide after second baby dies in 'similar circumstances'

A Lancaster County woman is charged with homicide in the death of her 2-month-old child.

The mother, Jessica Harper, is from Fulton Township.

The child died on July 12 after being found at a residence along the 2600 block of Robert Fulton Highway, according to state police.

The affidavit of probable cause states:

“Jessica Harper, biological mother to the infant … stated that she placed (the infant) in her bed to sleep. She as well as her 3-year-old daughter slept in that bed with (the infant) in between both of them. When Harper awoke (the baby) was not breathing.”

Police said this is the second time one of Harper’s children died in such circumstances. According to the affidavit, on Jan. 19, 2011, Harper’s other child, who was also about 2 months old at the time, died while sleeping in Cecil County, Md., again by what officials call “positional asphyxiation.”

"In the Lancaster County case, a pediatrician warned Harper of the dangerous sleeping behavior six days before the boy died. Harper responded to those warnings by saying she was 'going to do it anyway,'" reads a statement from the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office.

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http://www.wgal.com/news/lancaster-...-with-homicide-in-death-of-2monthold/41576856

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/peach-bottom-woman-sentenced-to---years-for-co/article_8b8429ac-263c-11e8-bdd5-ebad1ce9bbc3.html

A Peach Bottom woman will spend 11 to 22 years in prison for the co-sleeping death of her 2-month-old son.

Prosecutors said the child died of asphyxiation on July 12, 2016, as he slept in a bed with his mother, Jessica Marie Harper, at her home in the 2600 block of Robert Fulton Highway in Fulton Township.

In a plea deal, Harper, 30, pleaded no contest in county court Monday to third-degree murder and endangering a child.

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http://www.wgal.com/article/woman-sentenced-to-prison-for-co-sleeping-death-of-infant-son/19410675

Judge Margaret Miller said Harper “knew it was unsafe” to have the infant sleep with her in a bed. The judge told Harper, “But no, you knew better, and no one could tell you different. Well, it has taken two dead babies… for you to finally, I hope, accept that you don’t always know better.”

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