Alexandra Eckersley gets no prison time in abandoned baby case

Inset: Alexandra Eckersley after her sentencing hearing (WMUR). Background: The area where Eckersley left her newborn baby (WMUR).

The 27-year-old adopted daughter of a Major League Baseball legend, accused of abandoning her newborn child in the freezing woods and intentionally misleading authorities about the child's whereabouts, will not go to prison.

New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Amy Messer on Thursday ordered Alexandra Eckersley, the adopted daughter of Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley, to serve sentences of 12 months and six months in prison for convictions on two counts. However, Messer also suspended both prison sentences, provided Eckersley continues to receive mental health and substance abuse treatment and also completes regular evaluations with the court.

A jury convicted Eckersley in August of one count each of endangering the welfare of a child, reckless conduct, falsifying physical evidence in connection with crimes and attempted cover-up. She was found not guilty of two counts of assault.

Messer imposed a prison sentence of twelve months on the charge of falsifying evidence and six months on the charge of child endangerment. Both were suspended for three years, which the court said gave Eckersley the best chance to continue the progress she has made since her first arrest.

“It is critically important that you continue on the path you are on,” Messer said in court footage released by Manchester ABC affiliate WMUR. “I suspect you will succeed if you do.”

Eckersley's then-boyfriend, 45-year-old George Theberge, pleaded guilty last year to child endangerment because Eckersley allegedly abandoned the newborn in the woods shortly after birth. He was subsequently sentenced to one year in prison.

Before Messer announced the verdict, prosecutors asked that Eckersley be sentenced to at least a year in prison for intentionally misleading first responders about the health and whereabouts of her newborn.

“The state’s recommendation to the court today is significant but warranted,” Hillsborough Assistant District Attorney Alex Gatzoulis told the court. “The facts of this case presented to the jury at trial demonstrate that Ms. Eckersley knew what she was doing and had the presence of mind to mislead first responders.”

Eckersley's defense attorney, Kim Kossick, asked for a full suspended sentence, saying her client just wanted to “live a normal life as a mother (of her child).” Eckersley currently has custody of the child and lives with her mother in Massachusetts.

As Law&Crime previously reported, at approximately 12:40 a.m. on December 26, 2022, officers with the Manchester Police Department responded to a 911 call at the West Side Ice Arena from a woman – later identified as Eckersley – who had just given birth to an infant Forest in the area. The temperature in the area was below 20 degrees.

Manchester police and firefighters, as well as American Medical Response personnel, were dispatched to the area where they made contact with Eckersley, who told them where to look for the child. However, authorities were unable to find the child, police said.

“After nearly an hour, the mother revealed the baby’s true location and led officers to the area,” the release said. “There, officers found the baby, who was treated by paramedics and taken to a local hospital for treatment.”

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Alexandra Eckersley gets no prison time in abandoned baby case

ByVanessa

By Vanessa

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