Prosecutor: Woman Let Newborn Die In Garage

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - A Detroit-area prosecuting attorney says a woman let her newborn die in a garage rather than allow him to go into foster care.

The allegation against Angela Alexie came Wednesday during opening arguments in her trial on murder and child abuse charges in Macomb County Circuit Court. Authorities accuse the 24-year-old, who has three other children in foster care, of giving birth in an Eastpointe garage in December 2014 and leaving the boy whose body was later discovered at a nearby recycling center.

Assistant Prosecutor William Cataldo says Alexie hid her pregnancy and considered the child a "dirty little secret" and "a road block to her social life."

Authorities say Alexie gave birth in a garage in Eastpointe on Dec. 22 and left the baby. It died two days later, likely from exposure to cold weather. The body was found at a recycling center in nearby Roseville on Jan. 14.

Defense attorney Steve Kaplan counters Alexie has "cognitive challenges." He told jurors she should be convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

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