Army Spc. Ashley Ard pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges in 2013 after she allegedly left her newborn daughter at a park in Eagle River, north of Anchorage. Now the Alaska Dispatch News reports that Ard, who has since married and taken the name Brown, will plead guilty to manslaughter.
Brown's child was found dead and wrapped in a towel by a dog walker. Last April, Brown said she would argue in court that she suffered from a mental illness at the time of the alleged crime, the Dispatch News reported.
Brown, 28, is still serving in the Army, the paper said, and has been free on bail. Brown is scheduled to enter her plea on June 26 and is currently being held at the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center until her sentencing. She faces up to nine years behind bars. However, according to a notice filed in Anchorage Superior Court, she has agreed to open sentencing, which means there are "no assurances about the length or severity of her punishment," the paper reported.
Rachael Kalinyak is an editorial intern with Network Solutions.