BELFAST (AP) — Jury selection is getting underway in the trial of a Maine woman charged in the death of her infant son.
Miranda Hopkins, of Troy, originally was charged with murder in the January death of 7-week-old Jaxon Hopkins. But a grand jury reduced the charge to manslaughter.
She’s been free on bail while awaiting trial, which is due to begin next week in Belfast.
Court documents indicate Hopkins suggested that her baby could have been smothered accidentally by one of her other two children, both of whom are autistic.
Police say she had been drinking whisky and told investigators that she must have “blacked out.”
Hopkins lived with Jaxson and two other sons who are ages 6 and 8. The baby’s cause of death was listed as blunt force head injuries.
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