CANTON: A judge in Stark County has acquitted two teens of criminal charges in the death of their newborn baby.
Prosecutors said the boy and girl, both 17 at the time, kept the pregnancy secret, and their son died from the lack of medical care.
But the Canton Repository reports that while a judge ruled there was “ample negligence,” he declined Thursday to find them guilty of juvenile charges involuntary manslaughter and child endangering.
Defense attorneys argued that the girl thought she was having a miscarriage and the boy — who was not present at July birth — didn’t know the baby was alive until afterward.
If convicted, the Alliance teens could have been held in a state juvenile facility until they turned 21.
