Blackham Gets No Prison Time

Judge Ned Miller sentenced 26-year-old Jessica Blackham, the woman who made headlines in February of 2011 for leaving her newborn son in a toilet at the Bi-Lo Center, to house arrest rather than jail time Wednesday. 

Blackham was sentenced to five years, suspended to one year of house arrest and three years of probation, along with mental counseling. She could have received up to 20 years for inflicting great bodily injury on a child. 

The prosecution told the judge that Blackham was at the Bi-Lo Center on the night of Feb. 4, 2011 with friends and family, including her 4-year-old child, when she excused herself to the restroom at the intermission of the circus, complaining of stomach problems. 

By 10 p.m., the circus had ended, and Blackham was still in the bathroom stall. She soon left, having delivered a 6-pound male child in the toilet. By 11:30 p.m., a Bi-Lo Center maintenance worker had discovered the child, whose head was just above the water line, in the toilet, among feces, urine, blood and afterbirth, the prosecution said.

The baby suffered from hypothermia and was treated at the hospital, and is currently doing well in an adoptive family. Meanwhile, Blackham has visitation rights to her other child in a joint custody arrangement with the child's father. 

Miller told Blackham she wasn't "standard fare" for criminal court, as she had no previous criminal record at all, and hadn't been in trouble since, but did ask why she didn't try to help the child after she gave birth. 

Blackham told Miller that she didn't know she was pregnant, since she was much smaller than she had been in her previous pregnancy. She said massive blood loss may have led to her being unaware of her responsibility to her newly born baby. 

Prosecutors refused to address the fairness of the sentence, only saying the state was happy that Blackham had pleaded guilty to the felony child abuse charge, and that sentencing is solely the responsibility of the judge.