Bronx DA: Murder Charges in Newborn Tragedy – Jennifer Berry Indicted, Arraigned

Jennifer Berry Indicted for Dropping Girl from 7^th-Floor

University Heights Apartment

(Bronx, NY – October 27, 2015) – Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson announces the Supreme Court arraignment of 33-year-old mother JENNIFER BERRY in the tragic death of her newborn baby, whom Berry is accused of dropping from a seventh floor apartment window.

BERRY, appearing before Supreme Court Justice Margaret Clancy, pled not guilty to:

            Murder in the 2^nd Degree (2 counts, Class A-1 Felony)

Manslaughter in the 1^st Degree (Class B Felony)

Manslaughter in the 2^nd Degree (Class C Felony)

JENNIFER BERRY told her boyfriend she had been pregnant but had obtained an abortion.  She was visiting him for the night at his apartment in the University Heights section of the Bronx when she gave birth.

She is accused of giving birth in the bathroom of the apartment during the afternoon of September 28, 2015.  She is further charged with dropping the newborn girl from the 7^th floor window shortly after the child’s birth, then attempting to clean up the evidence, telling her boyfriend that she was bleeding heavily from a menstrual cycle.

The infant’s body was found in a courtyard of the building on street level; the Medical Examiner ruled the child had been born alive and the cause of death was blunt force trauma from the 7-story drop.

BERRY, if convicted of the charges, faces 25-years-to-life in prison.

JENNIFER BERRY’s case was adjourned until January 12, 2016, Part 79, Bronx Supreme Court.  Her case is being prosecuted by Astrid Borgstedt, Trial Counsel to the Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau of the Bronx County D.A.’s Office.

An indictment is merely an accusation; all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.