Utah mom accused of killing 6 babies goes to court
PROVO, Utah — A Utah woman accused of killing six of her newborns and packing their bodies away in her garage over a decade appeared in briefly in court Monday before a judge pushed back a planned hearing.
Attorneys for 39-year-old Megan Huntsman said in Utah's 4th District Court that they needed more time before deciding whether they wanted to request a review of evidence in the case.
Defense attorney Anthony Howell said Huntsman's legal team is bringing on a medical expert to help review evidence but that expert would not be available until August.
Huntsman appeared in court wearing a forest green jail jumpsuit with her wrists shackled at the waist. She kept her head down, with her long, brown hair draped over her shoulders.
She is due back in court on Oct. 20.
Huntsman is in jail on $6 million bail, charged with six counts of first-degree murder. She has not yet entered a plea.
Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman told reporters after court Monday that prosecutors have not had any discussions about a possible plea deal.
Earlier this month, police for the first time revealed a suspected motive when they said Huntsman had a a meth addiction when she strangled or suffocated the infants from 1996 to 2006.
Pleasant Grove Police Capt. Mike Roberts said Huntsman did not want to care for them.
Her attorney, Howell, has declined to comment on the allegations.
Authorities think a seventh baby found in her Pleasant Grove garage was stillborn.
Huntsman's estranged husband, Darren West, discovered the infants' bodies on April 12 while cleaning out the home they had shared.
West lived with Huntsman during the 10 year period the children were killed. He went to prison in 2006 and is not considered a suspect in the deaths.
Investigators have said they don't know how he could not have known about the seven pregnancies or deaths but they don't plan to question him further.
DNA results have revealed that all seven babies were full term and West was the biological father of the infants.
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