By Billy Davis

An assistant district attorney described a grisly murder scene Friday in a Sardis courtroom, where teenage defendant Linda Nash pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter.

Nash, now 17, likely used scissors to fatally stab her newborn child, a boy, moments after giving birth at home, prosecutor Jay Hale said as Nash stood before Circuit Judge Andrew C. Baker.  

She was flanked by two other defendants who were pleading guilty to sell of cocaine and grand larceny.

Nash had been charged with murder, and therefore faced a life sentence, if a circuit jury had agreed she killed the newborn January 30 at her home in the Pope community.

In Mississippi, manslaughter carries a maximum of 20 years in prison, with a minimum sentence of two years.

Hale cited Nash’s confession to a sheriff’s investigator, telling Baker and the court that she used the scissors to cut the umbilical cord then found a “soft spot” to stab the newborn. An autopsy showed “hesitation wounds” on the child’s chest.

The child was lying in a trash can in the bathroom, where the birth had taken place, when Nash’s foster mother came to check on her, the prosecutor said.

A criminal investigation began after Nash and her parents took the dead child to Tri-Lakes Medical Center.

Nash’s elderly foster parents were in court Friday, seated on the front row in the courtroom.

Nash is represented by Batesville attorney Tom Womble, who has publicly sought sympathy and understanding for his teenage client.

Nash did not know she was pregnant, Womble has said, and he has theorized that a lack of pre-natal care, coupled with hormones and blood sugar – Nash is diabetic – might have triggered her sudden action.

He has also pointed out that she was a “straight A student” at North Delta School.   

“People who know this child know she doesn’t have the capability to commit murder,” Womble told The Panolian in February. “This couldn’t have happened, so why did it?”

“She is not a criminal,” the attorney told a TV news crew at the county courthouse.  

Those defenses are expected to be part of Womble’s case at the October 1 sentencing, when the defense attorney will line up witnesses on behalf of his client.

Womble has also asked the court for Miss. Department of Human Services reports for the sentencing, though he has not stated how those reports benefit his client.  

Hale will also call at least one witness, since the prosecution is expected to use law enforcement to describe the murder scene and subsequent investigation.

After remaining quiet since February, the prosecution seemed to fire a shot at the defense Friday, when Hale gave the dead newborn a name: “Baby Boy Nash,” at the plea hearing.

Nash is out on bond as she awaits her sentencing.