Efernia McClendon left her baby in a drainage ditch.

[Mom of 4]

Beverly Harvey
Staff writer
Published: May 16, 2008

An Opelika teen charged with manslaughter in connection to her infant daughter’s death remained in jail Friday with a $50,000 bond.

Efernia Kaylee McClendon, 18, was arrested early Friday after being indicted on a manslaughter charge, according to Opelika police Capt. Allan Elkins.

McClendon was charged in connection with the death of her infant daughter, according to Lee County District Attorney Nick Abbett.

The body of the infant was found wrapped in fabric and lying in a drainage ditch behind the Treetop Apartments on Feb. 4. Her arraignment will be on May 27.

If convicted, she faces a sentence of 2 to 20 years and a fine of up to $30,000.

http://www.oanow.com/oan/news/local/...th_case/13859/

[impqueen]

I front paged her.

Here's Efernia's Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/efernia

And here's the front page article: http://www.dreamindemon.com/2008/05/...ched-her-baby/

I'm trying an experiment to see if the front page "thank-you" works to bring traffic to the forum at all, so i'm leaving them off for a few days. But thank you, thank you MomOf4, because i have been following this case since the baby was found. :)

[Mom of 4]

Mommy say she didn't do it.

http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=8361455

OPEILKA, Ala. (WTVM) -- In an exclusive News Leader 9 report, we heard from the mother of an Opelika teen accused of killing her baby. Police say the teenager who police say left her newborn outside in the cold to die. The 18 year olds mother tells News Leader 9 what she believes happened.

"My daughter loved kids, she would never hurt nobody in her life. I don't know why people keep saying bad things about her," said Efernia McClendon's mother.

While defending the actions of her 18-year old daughter, McClendon's mother asked us not to use her name or show her face. She says since her daughter, a senior at Opelika High, was arrested for manslaughter in the death of her newborn baby girl, she's been bombarded with threats.


Our first question, did the teen know she was pregnant?

"No, she did not know she was pregnant, My daughter was a big girl, she did not know she was pregnant," said McClendon.

Our next question, was the baby born alive?

"No she was born still born," said the baby's mother.

When we asked her what her daughter did with the baby, Ms. McClendon did not want to talk about it.

The Mclendon's live in the Tree Top Apartment Complex. Their apartment is just a few hundred feet away from where the baby's body was found on February 4th, beside this drainage ditch, wrapped in a blanket.


"She was afraid to tell me what was going on, teens are scared these days, she was terrified," McClendon said.

According to the indictment that charges the teen with manslaughter, Efernia McClendon failed to provide care to sustain the life of her newborn by leaving the infant outdoors, exposed to the elements, thereby causing death.

"Police can say what they want to say, the baby was still born. She was terrified, lets put it that way, she was scared, worried, felt bad for doing what she was doing,"McClendon said.

Weather or not the baby was stillborn or alive when it was born, can be determined by forensic testing. Those results have not been released to the public, but we should hear that evidence at trial.

Meanwhile, the day her daughter was arrested, Ms. McClendon was evicted, from her apartment, because her daughter committed an alleged crime. She has to be out in fourteen days. As for her daughter, she remains behind bars at the Lee County Detention Facility.

[Jaded]

Mommy says she didn't do it???

When we asked her what her daughter did with the baby, Ms. McClendon did not want to talk about it.

She doesn't make a very good argument.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

I'm trying an experiment to see if the front page "thank-you" works to bring traffic to the forum at all, so i'm leaving them off for a few days. But thank you, thank you MomOf4, because i have been following this case since the baby was found. :)

It took me a while to realize the Thank You was a link to the forum. I thought it was a link to person's profile so I never clicked it. Maybe it just needs re-wording like "Thanks to impqueen for the discussions in our forums" I could be the only one misinterpreting it though.

[impqueen]

It took me a while to realize the Thank You was a link to the forum. I thought it was a link to person's profile so I never clicked it. Maybe it just needs re-wording like "Thanks to impqueen for the discussions in our forums" I could be the only one misinterpreting it though.

I've been toying around with that sort of line in a few articles lately, although I can't tell yet if it's working. While I want to draw people to the forums, I'm not sure the forums are really drawing people to the front page, so I'm trying to work out whether it's even necessary to link the two.

And sometimes I'm already working on a story, only to find it in the forums, and then I feel bad if I don't say thank you, even though I was already on it before I saw it. And then sometimes I get a lot of the research done by forum members, so all that's left is for me to verify, get a few other sources, and spend an hour writing it up so that it's different from the news, and then I need to say thank you.

And sometimes when I thank someone, a new commenter thinks that person wrote the whole article and I feel like Charlie Brown. :)

I overthink stuff a lot, have you noticed? ;)

So all that is to say, yeah, you're right. I'll get it worked out. LOL

[impqueen]

Mommy say she didn't do it.

http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=8361455

Mommy's full of shit. It's already been reported that the ME report found that the baby was born alive - that's why Efernia was charged. So the stillborn argument doesn't wash.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

An Opelika woman could spend nearly a decade in a state penitentiary for causing the death of a newborn baby girl almost two years ago.

However, Lee County Circuit Court Judge Jacob A. Walker III could give Efernia Kylee McClendon, 19, probation instead.

District attorney Nick Abbett said anyone who receives a sentence of 20 years or less in Alabama can apply for probation. However, there is no guarantee it will be granted, he said.

“That’s up to Judge Walker,” Abbett said. “Judges don’t normally grant probation in homicide cases.”

During a plea hearing Friday afternoon, McClendon pleaded guilty to the sole charge she was indicted on — manslaughter — and accepted a 10-year prison sentence, pending her probation hearing.

“You’re telling me you’re guilty of manslaughter?” Walker asked.

“Yes,” she responded.

McClendon was arrested in May 2008, three months after Opelika police found a newborn in a drainage ditch at Tree Tops Apartments on Birmingham Highway. According to the grand jury indictment, McClendon caused the baby’s death by “failing to provide care and nurture to sustain the life of a newborn infant and/or by leaving said infant outdoors exposed to the elements.”
[...]

She appeared before the judge in a sweatshirt and blue jeans. Defense attorney Margaret Brown said her client served 291 days in the Lee County Detention Facility before she was released on $50,000 bond. McClendon could get credit for time served, Abbett said.
[...]

Walker scheduled a probation hearing for 11 a.m. Feb. 19, at which time he will decide between prison and probation.

http://www2.oanow.com/oan/news/local...infant/124787/

[OMalley]

Mandatory sterilization. PLEASE.