ROCKFORD - New charges were
issued Thursday in the case of Katie Stockton.
Stockton
is the woman accused of leaving her baby for dead on the side of the road back
in 2004. The baby, later named "Baby Crystal,"was discovered in rural Rockton not far from Stockton's parents' home.
Stockton walked into court
wearing a green jail jumpsuit, with both wrists and ankles shackled. Judge John Truitt read off 12 new charges to Stockton. All the charges listed were for first degree murder. They supersede the charges the State's
Attorney's office filed originally against her when she was arrested back in
2009.
Stockton wept and shook her
head when the judge made her aware that some of these new charges carry the
possibility of life in prison without possibility for parole. The original charges against the alleged murderer
included charges that sought the death penalty in her case, but Illinois abolished the
death penalty last year.
The case has been
delayed several times, and was supposed to go to trial this summer, but these
new charges delayed the proceedings. Yet
another delay in the case, this time from the defense, requesting more time to
go over new autopsy results delivered in court Thursday. Both the defense and prosecution are trying
to finalize their list of possible expert witnesses.
Stockton plead "not guilty" to all the new charges brought against her Thursday.
Still no word on if
Stockton will
be charged in the discovery of the two other dead baby bodies discovered in the
trunk of her impounded car back in 2009.
Stockton and her
attorneys are due back in court on November 13th for another status
hearing.
