New York: A 33-year-old Indian-American woman has been found guilty of felony child neglect and foeticide charges over the death of her unborn child and faces upto 70 years in prison.
Purvi Patel of Granger, Indiana was accused of using abortion pills to kill her unborn child in July 2013 and then throwing the baby in a plastic bag in a dumpster near a restaurant her parents owned.
The verdict in the 6-day trial came after five hours of jury deliberation on Tuesday.
A report in ABC News said Patel used abortion drugs she bought online from Hong Kong without a prescription to terminate the secret pregnancy caused by a married man.
"There were two crimes. The first crime performing an abortion without going to a doctor in Indiana and that obviously led to disastrous consequences," said Deputy Prosecutor Mark Roule.
"After that, she made a terrible choice - neglect of a dependent and that's the substance of count one."
Mr Roule told jurors that the baby was born on the bathroom floor at Ms Patel's home. She wrapped him in plastic bags and put him in a dumpster behind her family restaurant. Roule said when Ms Patel's pain and bleeding would not stop, she went to the emergency room.
"She continued to lie to doctors and nurses...she tried to keep secret the fact that she'd been responsible for another life," Mr Roule said.
Text messages that Purvi Patel sent after leaving the baby in the dumpster were also read out to the jury. In one text to a friend, Ms Patel said: "Just lost the baby. I'm going to clean up my bathroom floor and then go to Moe's (her parents' restaurant)."
Ms Patel will be sentenced on March 6. Neither charge carries mandatory prison time, but the child neglect charge carries a maximum of 50 years behind bars, the foeticide charge carries a maximum of 20 years.
Ms Patel's lawyer Jeff Sanford said that the state had no evidence of the drugs in Purvi Patel's blood and no proof she even received them online. The state did not prove Patel committed feticide, Sanford was quoted as telling the jurors by the WSBT 22 news.
Much of the testimony in the case was centered around whether the baby was alive or dead when delivered by Patel. A doctor who had found the baby in the dumpster in July 2013 also testified.
The jury heard from a doctor for the defense who said Purvi Patel's foetus "was not viable," which meant it could not have survived outside of the womb.
She estimated that Ms Patel's pregnancy was in the 23 to 24 week range and stated that there was no evidence that the child ever took a breath, the report said.