NATCHITOCHES, La. (AP) — A woman accused in the burning death of her infant son will face trial next year because of the recent surge in COVID-19 cases.
Hanna Nicole Barker faces charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder of a child younger than 12 on April 25. The trial had been scheduled for September.
On Thursday, her attorney Dru Thompson asked for the delay, citing the fourth wave of COVID-19. He said the spike causing cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the state to climb has prevented him from visiting Barker in jail to prepare for trial, The Town Talk reported.
Natchitoches Parish Assistant District Attorney Cliff Strider agreed with the requested continuance.=, saying the state recognized the hardships created by the pandemic. He said they “regretfully acknowledge” the trial should be continued, even while noting that the state was ready to proceed.
If convicted, Barker faces the death penalty in the July 2018 death of her son, 6-month-old Levi Cole Ellerbe. The state alleges she convinced another woman she was in a relationship with, Felicia Marie-Nicole Smith, to participate in a scheme to kill the child. It was Smith who on July 17, 2018, took the baby from Barker’s travel trailer to a ditch about a mile away, poured gasoline on him and set him on fire, prosecutors said. Firefighters responding to a call about a fire found the infant, who died early the next day at a Shreveport hospital.
Smith pleaded guilty on July 21 to charges of manslaughter, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and cruelty to a juvenile that could send her to prison for life. She could testify against Barker as part of the deal.
Smith’s sentencing date was set for October, which would have been after Barker’s trial. It’s not known yet if that date has been rescheduled.