Charges dropped in death of Holton infant

Initially charged with first-de­gree murder in the November 2015 death of her infant son, a Holton woman has been cleared of all charges against her in the matter, according to Jackson County Dis­trict Court documents.

Deputy Jackson County Attorney Brian Yearout filed, and Magistrate Judge Blaine Carter granted, a motion on Friday asking the court to dismiss a criminal case against Alicia Whip­ple-Decker, who was currently charged with attempted unlawful abortion in the death of her son, who was only two weeks old at the time of his death.

Originally, Whipple-Decker had been charged in October of last year with first-degree murder. In February, the charge was amended to attempted first-degree murder, and earlier this summer, it was amended to attempted unlawful abortion. But in Friday’s motion, Yearout said there was “insufficient evidence” to convict her of any wrongdoing in her son’s death.

The case was brought to the county attorney’s attention by “an individual close to the defendant” who claimed that Whipple-Decker had allegedly attempted to abort her then-unborn son, and based on police investigation and medical documentation, she was charged with first-degree murder, according to court documents.

The charge was reduced in Feb­ruary following an interview with the doctor that delivered Whipple-Decker’s infant son, with com­ments made leading “law enforce­ment to learn that the medical evi­dence did not support a murder charge,” Yearout said. The combi­nation of those comments and Whipple-Decker’s testimony dur­ing a police interview led to the re­duced charge.

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