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Lawyer Hopeful Tests Show Dead Blackstone Infants Were Stillborn

Erika Murray is escorted into a courtroom for her arraignment at Uxbridge District Court in Uxbridge on Sept. 12.  (Paul Kapteyn/AP/Pool)
Erika Murray is escorted into a courtroom for her arraignment at Uxbridge District Court in Uxbridge on Sept. 12. (Paul Kapteyn/AP/Pool)

The lawyer for a Massachusetts woman arrested after the bodies of three infants were found in her home says he's optimistic that forensic testing will show the babies weren't born alive, and therefore weren't harmed or killed by his client.

Thirty-one-year-old Erika Murray was charged Friday with fetal death concealment and other counts after authorities found their bodies in her squalid, vermin-infested Blackstone home. A medical examiner is determining whether the remains were newborns or fetuses.

State officials took custody of Murray's four children, ages 6 months to 13 years.

Attorney Keith Halpern said Sunday Murray was scared of giving birth because her longtime boyfriend didn't want more children.

Halpern says he expects DNA testing to show Murray and her boyfriend were the parents of the three dead infants.

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