OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A woman who left her newborn baby boy wrapped in a sweater and a plastic bag on an Omaha doorstep last month has been sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of abandonment.
Maria Paiz-Perez, 28, left the 7-pound baby boy - with the umbilical cord still attached - on a south Omaha front porch on April 6, shortly after she had given birth to him at her home, police said. In exchange for her plea, prosecutors dropped a misdemeanor count of negligent child abuse against Paiz-Perez.
Joseph Cervantes, an attorney for Paiz-Perez, told the Omaha World-Herald on Thursday that his client is from Guatemala, had little education and had become pregnant as a result of a sexual assault. Cervantes said she was scared and unsure of how to take care of the child.
Cervantes said Paiz-Perez did not know about Nebraska's safe haven law, which allows people to leave babies at a fire station or hospital.
The baby has been placed in foster care.