Hite gets 20-year sentence for death of her newborn

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Morgan Hite, of Wasilla, received a 20-year prison sentence this morning, in the emotion-filled chambers of Judge Thomas Deister. The sentence is within the 16 to 24 years outlined in the woman’s plea agreement with prosecutors.

A newborn baby’s decomposing body was discovered in her parents’ closet last year.

The 23-year-old Hite pleaded guilty in January to a charge of child abuse resulting in death. Prosecutors dropped several other charges including first-degree murder in exchange for that plea.

Hite was accused of giving birth to a boy, later named Gabriel, at a friend’s Grand Junction home in February 2008. Prosecutors say she then put the boy in a bag, walked to her parents’ home and left the bag in a closet.