WARREN Bond is raised in baby case

The defendant entered a plea of innocent and declined to comment further.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A judge increased the bond of a 29-year-old woman accused of killing her newborn daughter to $100,000 because the woman is now charged with aggravated murder and additonal crimes.
Judge W. Wyatt McKay doubled Danielle M. Lentine's bond during a hearing Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. Lentine's bond had been set at $50,000.
Diane Barber, an assistant county prosecutor, asked for the bond increase because Lentine has now been indicted on charges of aggravated murder, involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault and gross abuse of a corpse. Barber noted that when the $50,000 bond was set Lentine was only charged with one count of murder.
Atty. Anthony Consoldane, who represents Lentine, unsuccessfully argued against the bond increase.
"This is a grossly exaggerated indictment," Consoldane said.
Pleaded innocent: Lentine, 29, of Columbus, pleaded innocent to the charges and declined to comment further. She has been in jail since her March 23 arrest.
If convicted on all charges, she could face 40 years to life in prison.
Howland police say Lentine gave birth to a baby girl either in March, April or May 1998, suffocated the child, stuffed her into a garbage bag, and hid the bag in a crawl space in her parents' Howland home.
Police have said that Lentine admitted committing the crimes. Consoldane, however, said police tricked his client into making admissions that didn't happen. He declined to elaborate.
The infant was found March 17 by Lentine's father, Anthony Lentine Jr.
An affidavit filed by the county prosecutor's office says that the crawl space was accessible only from the bedroom where the woman used to live. The affidavit also says the baby moved after it was born and that she "intentionally killed the infant by suffocating it."
She has not lived at the Howland home since July 1999, says an attorney representing Lentine's father.
Lentine has two boys, ages 6 months and 7, officials said. The 7-year-old lives with Lentine's parents and the 6-month-old lived with her and her fianc & eacute; at the YMCA in Columbus, police said.