Maine mother appeals sentence in abandoned baby manslaughter case

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court will hear oral arguments Thursday in the sentencing appeal of a woman convicted in the manslaughter death of her newborn daughter in 1985.

The 1:30 p.m. hearing will be livestreamed.

Last summer, Justice Stephen Nelson sentenced Caribou native Lee Ann (Guerette) Daigle to 16 years in prison with all but six suspended, with three years probation in the death of her abandoned newborn infant, Baby Jane Doe.

In her appeal, Daigle, 60, makes the argument that her sentence was illegal because the court incorporated current sentencing guidelines in its analysis, instead of adhering to the 1985 sentencing guidelines.

Additionally, Daigle said that the court deprived her of her due process during sentencing.

The state refutes Daigle’s claim, saying the sentencing court correctly considered and applied the laws in effect at the time of the crime when sentencing Daigle, according to the state’s brief.

In 1985, Armand and Lorraine Pelletier discovered the naked, bloody body of a baby girl on the lawn of their Frenchville home after their dog carried it from a nearby gravel pit.

The case went unsolved until DNA linked the baby to Daigle in 2022. Maine State Police arrested the Massachusetts woman in June 2022, after a grand jury indicted her on one count of intentional, knowing or depraved murder.

In April 2023, Daigle pleaded guilty to criminal negligence manslaughter after DNA evidence linked Daigle to Baby Jane Doe.

During sentencing, Nelson said that for 37 years Daigle did not step forward or take responsibility even when it was clear that she was the target of the investigation.

“She essentially discarded and dumped the baby in the snowbank. It was below freezing, and there can be no real claim there was not certainty that such action would in fact result in the death of that baby,” Nelson said in Houlton Superior Court.

Assistant Attorney General Lara Nomani will argue the case of State of Maine v. Lee Ann Daigle at 1:30 p.m. Thursday before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in Portland.

Daigle is currently housed in the Maine Correctional Center in Windham.

Correction: An earlier version of this report misstated the year DNA linked Lee Ann Daigle to the infant’s death.