TRUMBULL COUNTY Woman indicted in infant death

By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A 29-year-old woman accused of killing her newborn daughter is indicted on charges including aggravated murder.
A Trumbull County grand jury indicted Danielle M. Lentine of Columbus on Thursday on charges of aggravated murder, involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault and gross abuse of a corpse.
Lentine, being held in the county jail in lieu of a $50,000 bond, is to be arraigned on the charges at 9 a.m. Monday in the common pleas courtroom of Judge W. Wyatt McKay.
If convicted on all charges, she could face 40 years to life in prison.
Lawyer critical: Anthony Consoldane of the Ohio Public Defender's Commission said the indictment is "the most severe case of over-indictment I've ever seen."
"The prosecutors do not have an ethical obligation to pursue the highest possible charge against a defendant," Consoldane said. "They do have an ethical obligation to pursue justice, and this over-indictment is a miscarriage of justice."
Howland police say Lentine gave birth to a baby girl either in March, April or May of 1998, suffocated the child, stuffed her into a garbage bag and hid the bag in a crawl space in her parents' Howland home.
Says she was tricked: Police have said that Lentine admitted 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 with the court states that the crawl space was accessible only from the bedroom where the woman used to live. The affidavit also stated that 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, according to an attorney representing Lentine's father.
Arrested: Police arrested Danielle Lentine last week in Columbus and brought her back to the county.
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.