What did Emile Weaver do? College student set to be resentenced for abandoning newborn daughter in a trash bag

On Thursday, December 8, a divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled that Emile Weaver, a woman sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing her newborn daughter, will be resentenced.

Weaver, now 27, was found guilty of her infant's murder after she abandoned her in a trash bag right after giving birth and dumped it in the Ohio University Sorority House dumpster in 2015. The newborn reportedly died of asphyxiation. The accused was 20 at the time.

On Thursday, a 4-3 majority justice in the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that Muskingum County Common Pleas Judge Mark Fleegle, who issued Emile Weaver’s sentence, was "biased" and had predetermined her fate before considering the evidence that indicated neonaticide. In this condition, young mothers murder their infants within 24 hours of birth as they are in denial about the pregnancy.

The divided Supreme Court has now asked Emile Weaver to be resentenced by a different judge.

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Emile Weaver's dead newborn child was found by her sorority sisters

Emile Weaver was convicted of aggravated murder and several other counts for her infant’s death after two sorority sisters found the corpse on April 22, 2015, at the University of New Concord, Ohio. During the trial, Weaver said that she gave birth to the baby in a toilet in a sorority house, and later put her in a bag and abandoned her in the trash.

Judge Mark Fleegle sentenced Weaver to life without parole, stating she was unremorseful and her actions traumatized the sorority girls who discovered the newborn's body. In 2017, the accused appealed for the sentence to be reconsidered, arguing that her lawyer failed to provide an adequate explanation for neonaticide. However, the appeal was denied by the same judge, Mark Fleegle.

On Thursday, December 8, Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor sided with the defendant, stating:

“Weaver was entitled to have her petition for postconviction relief heard and decided by an impartial tribunal. … The trial-court judge’s conduct extensively detailed throughout this opinion illustrates that he was not impartial at Weaver’s evidentiary hearing.”

Justice O’Connor added that Judge Fleegle denied Weaver’s petition on baseless grounds by “inserting his personal opinion in the court of appeals" instead of considering evidence of neonaticide.

During her trial, Weaver testified that she believed the baby was already dead when she abandoned her in a trash bag, adding that she was in denial about her pregnancy.

While the majority were in favor of resentencing the case, Justice Pat DeWine disagreed with their assessment and said:

“I disagree with the majority’s characterization of some of the judge’s findings after the post-conviction-relief hearing and with its determination that the judge’s comments during the hearing show that he was biased against her.”

As per Law and Crime, if Weaver is resentenced, she will receive life in prison with the possibility of parole in 20 years.