Washington County mom sentenced to life in death of newborn she left on rural dirt road

A 25-year-old Washington County woman was sentenced to life in prison Thursday in the 2015 death of her newborn, a baby she left on a rural dirt road in October.

Jessica Ballard, of Warthen, pleaded guilty to murder in a Washington County Superior Court hearing as part of a plea agreement. She will be eligible for parole after serving 30 years.

Middle Judicial Circuit District Attorney Hayward Altman said Ballard refused medical treatment at a hospital and delivered the child alone in a car.

A witness has said the baby's cries could be heard in the background of a phone conversation, Altman said.

Authorities have said Ballard showed up at the Washington County Regional Hospital early Oct. 11 and was transferred to another hospital to undergo a procedure to remove fetal tissue from her uterus.

Investigators got a tip that a baby had been abandoned on an isolated dirt road.

Altman said Ballard initially told police she gave the baby up for adoption. Then she said she threw it in a dumpster.

At some point, she took police to the place on Middle Hill Road where she'd left the child, he said.

Had the case gone to trial, witnesses would have said the baby was born at full-term and that there's indications the child was killed before being abandoned, Altman said.

Authorities were unable to determine the cause of death for the child, he said.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398 or find her on Twitter@awomackmacon.

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 11:04 AM with the headline "Washington County mom sentenced to life in death of newborn she left on rural dirt road ."