Not guilty plea in Ill. baby’s death

ROCKFORD (AP) – A northern Illinois woman has pleaded not guilty to charges she left her newborn daughter to freeze to death on a rural roadside in 2004.

The Rockford Register Star reports Katie Stockton of Rockton entered the plea Thursday to a new indictment in her case. The indictment replaces four death penalty-eligible charges with six new charges punishable by life in prison. Illinois abolished the death penalty in 2011.

It has been more than 3 years since Stockton was arrested in connection with the death of the infant known as Baby Crystal.