Facing the possibility of serving life in prison, Andrea Walker pleaded guilty to reckless homicide Monday in the death of her daughter Aniston Walker, a 10-pound baby girl who was found face-down in a ditch wearing a brown onesie about 11 miles from home in the winter of 2014.
Andrea Walker, 36, entered into the negotiated plea agreed to by the Shelby County District Attorney General's Office for a suspended sentence of four years with four years' probation. Records show charges of aggravated child abuse and abuse of a corpse were dismissed. Criminal Court Judge Mark Ward sentenced her.
Attorney Kamilah Turner said the case was difficult medically, because it was nearly impossible for experts to re-create what happened, the specific cause of death or determine how long the infant had been in the ditch. One of the reasons for the plea agreement was that Walker left 7-week-old Aniston with a 3-year-old at home and without adult supervision, she said.
That itself "was something we knew would be challenging for us, Turner said. Thats one of the reasons why we made the deal. But at no point did Andrea ever say or concede to causing the death of her child knowingly.
Walker, who has been out on bond, won't serve prison time unless she violates probation. She had been charged with first-degree murder, but pleaded to the lesser charge. The Tennessee code defines reckless homicide, a D felony, as a reckless killing of another.
Defense attorney Michael Working said had the case gone to trial, the defense would have argued someone other than Walker was responsible for the crime. In an interview, Working declined to elaborate on who that person is.
