Mother Enters Plea In Death Of Baby Buried In Woods

UPPER MARLBORO, MD — A Greenbelt woman is facing prison time after making a plea Monday in connection to the beating death last year of her 2-month-old son, according to a media report. Geneice Petty, 25, entered an Alford plea to a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the killing of Antoine Flemons, the Washington Post reported.

Her husband, Antoine Petty, 32, pleaded guilty on Aug. 2 to punching the infant to death, leaving the child's body in the back of a hearse and finally burying his body in a shallow grave. He faces up to 40 years in prison on the charge of child abuse causing death, and he's scheduled to be sentenced later this month.

Authorities said that Petty became annoyed when his son wouldn't stop crying on Sept. 21, 2016, so he took him outside their apartment onto a balcony and punched him several times in the torso, until the child bled from his nose and mouth.

SEE MORE: PG County Dad Pleads Guilty To Killing His 2-Month-Old Son

In court Monday, a prosecutor said that Geneice Petty failed to get medical attention for her son after he started bleeding, the Post reported. After the child died, she and her husband took his body to the back of Parkdale High School in Riverdale and buried him in a shallow grave in the woods, authorities said.

With the Alford plea, Geneice Petty asserts her innocence but concedes that prosecutors have enough evidence to prove her guilt. The plea will appear as a finding of guilt in court records, the Post reported.

After Monday's hearing, Petty's attorney said that she is "very remorseful" and recognizes that "this is a tragedy," the Post reported. She is scheduled to be sentenced in December.

Image: Geneice Petty (Prince George's County Police Department)