This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
When the young woman accused of dumping her newborn into a trash can last month was asked Wednesday if she understood that she was being charged with a crime, that she would have to defend herself in a court of law, she nodded.
But what Alicia Marie Englert can understand, and what her mental state was on the day she allegedly dropped her day-old daughter into a garbage bin, is a question no one yet knows how to answer, defense attorney Susanne Gustin said.
Speaking to reporters crowded outside a 3rd District courtroom, where the 23-year-old woman had just made her initial appearance, Gustin said she and her defense team would be seeking to have Englert evaluated — for medical issues, mental health concerns or developmental disabilities that may have influenced her actions Aug. 25 and may impact her ability to assist in her own defense as the case progresses.
Englert's father, Robert Englert, has insisted his daughter is developmentally disabled and may not understand the gravity of her actions.
Prosecutors have charged Englert with attempted murder for allegedly failing to care for the newborn and, ultimately, leaving it to die in a neighbor's trash can. If convicted of the first-degree felony, Englert would face up to life in prison.
"This is going to be a case of what was going on with Alicia?" Gustin said. "We need to review the police reports, set her up to have her evaluated, then we'll see where this is going."
The infant, who survived some 36 hours without food or care, has been released from Primary Children's Hospital after recovering markedly from several days in critical condition and placed in the care of the state's Division of Child and Family Services.
Gustin declined to comment on whether Englert's parents, who attended Wednesday's court hearing and shielded their faces from news cameras, were attempting to gain custody of the baby.
According to court documents, Englert allegedly admitted to police that she gave birth to the baby in the bathroom of her Kearns home. She wrapped the infant in a towel, left her on the floor, and went to bed, according to charges. The next day, Monday, she went to work, leaving the child wrapped in the towel on the floor.
After she returned from work, Englert could see the infant was still alive because her fingers were moving, charging documents state.
The following morning — two days after the child's birth — she put the baby in her neighbor's garbage can at about 5:45 a.m.
"I don't want it," Englert allegedly told police, adding she didn't know she was pregnant until the day she delivered the child.
"She admitted she knew that not providing any care for the baby and discarding the baby in a garbage can was wrong," a police detective wrote. "But said she didn't want her parents to 'freak out' or to know that she'd been pregnant and delivered a baby."
But a convenience-store clerk later told police that Englert often came to the store nearby her home and said she had asked Englert in late July about her pregnancy.
The clerk said Englert said she was due in August.
Unified Police officials say they have found no medical evidence that Englert — who graduated high school, maintains social media accounts and held a job with a car rental agency — is mentally incompetent.
Police said Englert does not know who fathered the baby.
"We're asking the public to be patient and see exactly what went on here," Gustin said. "Obviously, it's a very sad, horrible situation and a sad story, but we just have to understand why it happened."
The morning of Aug. 26, Englert's neighbors discovered the infant after investigating the sounds of what they thought was a kitten crying in a trash can at a home near 5300 South and 5200 West. They found the baby naked and buried under two bags of garbage, police said.
Englert's father helped remove the baby from the bin.
The newborn girl had low body core temperature, a blood-borne infection and was covered in feces when she arrived at the hospital, according to court records. Joanne Beachy, a neonatal intensive-care physician at Primary Children's Hospital, told police that an MRI showed that the baby suffered a mild brain injury due to lack of oxygen, but there was no permanent brain damage. However, the doctor said that because of the medical conditions the child suffered after birth, she is at an increased risk for developmental problems.
Englert will next appear in court before Judge Elizabeth Hruby-Mills on Oct. 6, at which point her lawyers will address a possible bail reduction.
Englert has been held at the Salt Lake County jail since her arrest. Bail was set at $500,000, cash-only.
Twitter: @Marissa_Jae