Case dropped against North Dakota mother in baby’s death

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota judge on Friday dismissed the case against a woman who pleaded guilty in the death of her infant daughter and was sent to prison last year.

Prosecutors on Thursday requested the case against Cassandra Black Elk be tossed, the Bismarck Tribune reported. South Central District Judge Daniel Borgen in January vacated her sentence and ordered a new trial.

North Dakota Supreme Court judges in August agreed that Black Elk received bad advice from her lawyer, who told her to plead guilty despite the fact that an autopsy found no evidence of abuse or neglect in the baby girl’s February 2022 death in Bismarck.

Borgen signed an order Friday morning dismissing the case against her.

“The state no longer believes it can prove its case-in chief,” the motion reads. “Dismissal of this matter is in the best interests of justice.”

Dane DeKrey, Black Elk’s new attorney, said the dismissal “is a relief” to her.

“She finally gets to be a grieving mother,” DeKrey told the newspaper.

Burleigh County State’s Attorney Julie Lawyer did not immediately respond to an Associated Press email requesting comment Friday.

Black Elk said she asked several times to see the final autopsy report but her public defender, James Loras, told her to plead guilty and they would “deal with it later.” Black Elk received the final autopsy report after her plea.

The report showed no evidence that abuse or neglect led to the baby’s death and made clear Black Elk’s conduct was not to blame, according to Borgen’s January ruling. The baby died from “unexplained sudden death,” also known as sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.

Borgen also noted that the Burleigh County State’s Attorney was present at the autopsy but did not tell the defense attorney that no evidence of neglect was found.