Infant murder case against mother drags on

— The criminal case against a woman accused of killing her newborn infant in Greenwich in 1986 is moving ahead slowly, with delays in the completion of a psychiatric evaluation hindering the legal proceedings.

At a teleconferenced court hearing Thursday in Superior Court in Stamford, the attorney representing Janita Phillips told Judge John Blawie that a prominent psychiatrist who interviewed the defendant has yet to complete the report.

Phillips, 64, a resident of Florida who was living in Greenwich in the 1980s, is facing a murder charge in connection with the death of her newborn son, according to law enforcement and court authorities.

The body of the baby was found the morning of May 16, 1986, in a trash receptacle in a truck. The medical examiner later determined the baby had been strangled. The case went cold not long after the baby’s death.

Greenwich police re-activated the investigation in the past decade and managed to use advanced DNA technology to tie Phillips to the death, according to authorities. She was arrested and charged with murder in late 2021, after turning herself into police headquarters.

The criminal case has been moving slowly, with multiple postponements, and Phillips’ defense lawyer, John DeLeo, said the need to submit a psychiatric evaluation was the main issue behind the delays. The evaluation may provide information about “mitigating” circumstances for the defendant, the judge was told.

Dr. Catherine Lewis, a psychiatrist, is a specialist in infanticide. She interviewed Phillips earlier in the year, the defense lawyer said, but the report has not been completed yet.

“There’s a very small population of experts in this area,” DeLeo said. “She’s very sought after and she’s very busy.”

The lawyer said he would contact the psychiatrist, an emeritus professor at the University of Connecticut, to expedite the process.