‘Womb Raider’ Guilty of Murder

By BRIAN MORENO & MARLENE GOMEZ

The Bronx woman accused of butchering her pregnant friend in order to extract her unborn baby and claim the child as her own was found guilty of murder on Thursday after jurors deliberated less than one full day in the so-called “womb raider” trial.

The defendant Ashleigh Wade wept on hearing the guilt verdict of second-degree murder and kidnapping. The victim’s parents, Bishop William and Deborah Sutton, also broke down in tears.

In rendering the verdict against Wade, 24, the jury rejected defense attorney Amy Attias’s request that they reduce the charges to manslaughter, citing the defendant’s “extreme emotional disturbance” as a mitigating circumstance.

  In her closing argument on Wednesday, Assistant DA Meredith Holzman branded the butchering of nine-month pregnant Angelikque Sutton, 22, as  “calculated. This is murder, plain and simple.”

Friends and family members of Wade testified that she faked her pregnancy and described how she removed Sutton’s unborn child by using a three-inch knife to slash her throat, cut her abdomen and uterus and before stabbing her several times, all this on the day that she was scheduled to be married.

The child, Jenasis Bradley, 22 months old, survived the ordeal and lives with her father, Patrick.

According to medical witness, Dr. Eric Goldsmith, Wade suffered from a mental disorder called pseudocyesis, a condition that allowed her to falsely believe she was pregnant. 

Before the jury began deliberations, Bronx Supreme Court Justice Margaret Clancy replaced with an alternate a juror who fainted after observing gruesome photographs of Sutton’s mutilated body last week.

Before reaching the verdict the jury requested the Facebook and phone messages that were exchanged between  Wade and Sutton and a through explanation of the definition mental condition offered by  Goldsmith, leading courtroom observers to falsely conjecture that they were leaning toward a verdict of manslaughter

 The jury also requested to know what time did Sutton arrived to Wade’s apartment as well to review the puncture wounds on Sutton’s neck.

Wade could face life in prison ​without parole.

Photo by Marlene Gomez of victim’s parent, jubilant after guilty verdict.