get these nets
Veteran
07/23/25
Mom who avoids jail has 'deep sense of regret' in 1986 Greenwich death of her newborn baby
STAMFORD — A Florida woman who pleaded guilty to charges in the death of her newborn son in Greenwich in 1986 avoided serving any jail time in connection with the case.
Janita Phillips, 65, was sentenced Tuesday to five years of probation and will not receive any jail time as part of a disposition agreement in which she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of first-degree manslaughter. If Phillips violates her probation, though, she could face up to 20 years in prison.
“This truly is a case where justice must be tempered by mercy,” Judge Gary White said prior to handing down the sentence.
At first glance, White said he considered rejecting the agreement between Phillips and state prosecutors given the “horrible” facts in the case. However, White admitted he changed his mind after he examined the case more closely
Phillips publicly addressed the killing during Tuesday’s sentencing for the first time since her arrest in 2021.
“I stand here today with a deep sense of regret and humility,” Phillips said as she fought back tears. “I take full responsibility for my actions."
State’s Attorney Paul Ferencek said the state extended an offer with no jail time after a mental health evaluation found Phillips had acted under extreme emotional distress at the time of killing.
Despite the “horrific” nature of the case, Ferencek said Phillips has been and will continue to be haunted by her actions.
“She’s going to have to answer for this for the rest of her life,” Ferencek said.
One factor alongside the psychiatric evaluation, which found she had acted under extreme emotional disturbance, was the fact that Phillips fully confessed to strangling her newborn then disposing the baby’s body in a dumpster. Without that confession, Ferencek said, the state would not have been able to charge her with murder in the first place.
Upon watching Phillips’ seven-hour interview with Greenwich investigators, Ferencek said he was struck by the profound sense of guilt she expressed.
“We saw real shame and remorse on her part,” Ferencek said.
Phillips' attorney, Steven DeLeo, echoed Ferencek in emphasizing his client’s willingness to take responsibility for her actions.
“The one thing she’s never done is deny culpability,” DeLeo said. “This was horrible — she acknowledges that.”
DeLeo had been going back and forth with prosecutors and a judge in pursuit of an agreement during pretrial meetings behind closed doors earlier this year.
State prosecutors had offered Phillips a plea deal as far back as a February, but DeLeo had asked a judge around that time to consider an alternative offer after he provided additional information on his client’s condition at the time of the baby's death.
If the case were to have gone to trial, DeLeo had signaled Phillips would pursue an extreme emotional disturbance defense. He has claimed his client was under extreme distress at the time the baby’s death in 1986.
The body of the baby was found the morning of May 16, 1986, in a trash receptacle on Havemeyer Place. The medical examiner later determined the baby had been strangled. The case went cold not long after the baby's death.
At the time the guilty plea was entered, Ferencek said Phillips' unknowingly had been pregnant and "overreacted" when she unexpectedly gave birth. He added that Phillips and her husband were experiencing "extreme financial troubles" at the time as well.
The cold case killing remained unsolved for decades until Greenwich police reopened the investigation in recent years, using advanced DNA technology to tie Phillips to the death, according to authorities.
Phillips was arrested and charged with murder in late 2021.
Phillips was working at a clothing store on Greenwich Avenue in 1986. She and her husband moved to Florida shortly after the baby's death. Phillips was deemed a suspect in the case but never arrested.
In 2020, a Greenwich police detective went to her residence in Lake Mary, Fla. Along with a Seminole County sheriff's deputy, the detective conducted surveillance of Phillips' home, according to a court filing, and went through her trash to gather genetic material. A discarded cotton swab confirmed Phillips was the mother of the baby, the affidavit stated.
When confronted by police decades after the incident, Phillips initially denied the allegations, but later confessed in a video interview with police.