SUNBURY — A Sunbury woman serving a life sentence for killing her newborn daughter in 2001 was denied a new trial Wednesday by a Northumberland County judge.
A pale Tracy Dupre, 38, sat quietly with her eyes lowered in the courtroom as conflicts counsel John Broda argued she had ineffective counsel during her August 2002 trial for killing the infant named “Baby Mary” by county Coroner James F. Kelley.
A Northumberland County jury convicted Ms. Dupre of first-degree murder for drowning the baby moments after giving birth in a bathtub at her Edison Avenue home on July 11, 2001. The infant’s decomposing body was found a few days later in a Dumpster amid trash and flies.
The jury voted 8-4 against the death penalty and Ms. Dupre received an automatic life sentence without parole, which she is serving at State Correction Institute in Muncy.
Prior appeals, including a petition to the state Supreme Court in 2005, have been denied.
President Judge Robert B. Sacavage Wednesday rejected Ms. Dupre’s latest bid for a new trial under the post-conviction relief act.
Mr. Broda sought a new trial based on ineffective counsel by defense attorney Richard Feudale for failing to ask for a mistrial when several witnesses testified Ms. Dupre was in jail prior to and during the trial.
Mr. Feudale testified at Wednesday’s hearing that part of his 2002 trial strategy was to bring out to the jurors that Ms. Dupre’s incarceration caused her to become depressed and susceptible to police coercion.
“She had made a rather damning confession early on that would have implicated her in criminal activity,” Mr. Feudale said. “It was an acceptable risk to me and not something I felt was prejudicial to her.”
Assistant District Attorney John Muncer pointed out that there were nine references during the trial to Ms. Dupre’s incarceration, two of which were made by the defendant while being questioned by Mr. Feudale and three from a defense expert.
Mr. Muncer added the defense attorney’s strategy was very likely effective in Ms. Dupre avoiding the death penalty.
Judge Sacavage ruled the testimony elicited during the trial was part of Mr. Feudale’s defense strategy and “had a reasonable basis.”
Mr. Feudale looked at Ms. Dupre, sitting with her head bowed and hands clasped, and said from the witness stand, “If I made a mistake, I want Tracy to know right now that I want it to be rectified. But I feel I did the best by her.”
Ms. Dupre’s former boyfriend, Scott Kinney, was convicted of felony hindering apprehension or prosecution for throwing the infant’s body in the trash. He received five years probation and mandatory monthly visits to the baby’s grave.
Mr. Kelley recently said he still visits the infant’s grave in Shamokin Dam.
The high-profile case prompted a new state “Safe Haven” law that allows mothers who drop off unwanted children in a safe place to avoid prosecution.
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Sunbury woman denied new murder trial
She was convicted of killing her newborn daughter
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