TRUMBULL COUNTY Parole denied to woman who killed her infants

The infants were less than 30 days old when killed.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A Niles woman who had admitted causing the deaths of two of her infants will not be getting out of prison soon.
The state parole board has denied Gloria Greenfield's request to be released and set her next hearing for Nov. 20, 2013.
"I don't really know too much about it, but I really thought she had a chance to get out," said Atty. Anthony Consoldane, who represented Greenfield. "She was a first-time offender."
Greenfield pleaded guilty in May to two counts of manslaughter. The charges state she caused the deaths of Theodore II in 1970 and Regina Woods in 1971.
Greenfield had said in earlier interviews that she was innocent and would never harm a child.
Chris Becker, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor who handled the case, declined to comment.
Consoldane said that one of the reasons Greenfield had decided to plead was because, had she gone to trial and been found guilty of a murder charge, the minimum amount of time she would have received was 20 years.
Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court sentenced her to one to 20 years in prison.
Officials said that since the crimes happened in the early 1970s she had to be sentenced in accordance with the laws at that time.
Under that law, she was eligible for parole after serving 10 months, Consoldane said.
Death ruling changed
The infants, who were less than 30 days old when they were killed, died of asphyxia, Becker has said.
At the times of their deaths, the coroner ruled they died of natural causes, but the Trumbull County Coroner's office changed the causes of death in 2001 and Niles police began investigating. The cause of death for Regina, Theodore and a third child, Melissa, are now listed as homicides.
The babies were killed so that Greenfield could collect insurance money, Becker said. He said Greenfield received about $3,000 per child.
sinkovich@vindy.com