Woman Who Drowned Newborn When She Was 16 to be Released Early: Report

DANBURY, CT — A Danbury woman who has served 10 years in prison for drowning her newborn will be released early, according to NBC CT News. The woman drowned her newborn daughter in a toilet in 2006 when she was a teen at Danbury High School. She will be released from prison on Sept. 30, eight years early, the report stated.

Panna Krom, who is now 26 years old, went before the parole board today at the York women's prison to ask the members to reduce her 18-year prison sentence and her request was granted.

Krom was 16 when she got pregnant, gave birth to a baby girl and drowned her in the toilet because she was afraid of her strict Cambodian parents, according to a report on CT Law Tribune. Krom petitioned the court for clemency, which her attorney Vicki Hutchinson filed on Feb. 29, 2016. According to the details of Krom's petition, she is a first-generation American who refused to get an abortion due to her Buddhist faith. She told the court she was not aware of the Safe Haven Law, which would have allowed her to give up the baby within 30 days of its birth.

Krom has been serving her sentence at the York Correctional Institute in Niantic and sought clemency to raise awareness for the Safe Haven law. According to the Connecticut Judicial Court's website, the Safe Haven Law allows parents of a newborn to leave their baby in a hospital, no questions asked, within 30 days.Click here to read more or call 2-1-1 for more information.

Click here to read more on The Connecticut Law Tribune article.

Read NBC CT's full report here.

Related:

• Woman Who Drowned Newborn Seeks Early Release
• Woman Who Drowned Newborn in Toilet When She was 16 Seeks Early Release

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