Tampa woman to stand trial in baby's death

By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published June 26, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Ken Helle] Doe told police that she was drunk and high on cocaine when she gave birth in a West Tampa alley in May 2006. [Handout photo] Mary Louise Doe holds her young son Benjamin Reynolds. The family photograph shows the young mother and son before Doe got hooked on crack cocaine and started living life on the streets.

TAMPA - After a year of mental health treatment, two doctors have found Mary Louise Doe competent to stand trial on the charge that she gave birth to a girl in an alley and left her to die.

During a hearing Monday, Circuit Judge Manuel Lopez certified Doe's competency and set her next hearing for August.

Doe, now 42, was sent to the Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee after experts determined last June that she was incapable to assist her attorneys during a trial.

Doe told police that she was drunk and high on cocaine when she gave birth in a West Tampa alley in May 2006. She said she walked away.

Police found the baby's body a few days later.

The baby was Doe's sixth. She had her first at age 16.

She did not raise any of them, instead living a life of drugs and crime on the streets.

Doe faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison if convicted of aggravated manslaughter of a child.

Colleen Jenkins can be reached at 813 226-3337 or cjenkins@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 25, 2007, 21:41:44]