A 24-year-old Queens woman accused of discarding her newborn baby in a hospital trash can has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The Queens District Attorney's Office said Dawa Lama was sentenced on Monday after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
Police say the Queens woman was arrested in May of last year after her daughter was discovered in critical condition in the trash can of a bathroom at Elmhurst Hospital Center. She died a week later.
Her defense attorney had said his client is remorseful and wished she could have done things differently.
A state law called the Abandoned Infant Protection Act gives parents up to 30 days to leave a newborn in a hospital, police precinct, firehouse or other safe location. If the baby is not injured and the parent is not suspected of a crime and promptly notifies the authorities, he or she can leave the baby anonymously and without fear of prosecution.
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