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State's high court won't reconsider baby death case appeal

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Posted at 10:44 AM, Apr 18, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-18 10:44:56-04

LEBANON, Ohio (AP) — Ohio's Supreme Court has declined to reconsider an appeal by a former high school cheerleader charged with killing and burying her newborn baby.

The court declined in February to hear Brooke Skylar Richardson's appeal after a lower court ruled doctors can testify in the Warren County case. The state Supreme Court declined Wednesday to reconsider the appeal.

Richardson's attorneys wanted prosecutors barred from presenting testimony from an obstetrics-gynecology practice's staff, citing physician-patient privilege.

A lower court ruled public interest in detecting crimes to protect society outweighed doctor-patient privilege in the case.

Prosecutors say the now 19-year-old buried the full-term baby shortly after giving birth in 2017.

She has pleaded not guilty to charges including aggravated murder.

Richardson's attorney, Charles H. Rittgers, says the defense is prepared to go to trial.