Chickasaw County mother sobs during trial when prosecutors show photos of son

LE MARS, Iowa (AP) —  The Chickasaw County woman charged in the death of her baby left the courtroom sobbing during the first day of her trial when prosecutors showed photos of her lifeless son in a swing set.

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports 21-year-old Cheyanne Harris caused a break in her trial Wednesday at the Plymouth County Courthouse in Le Mars.

Harris has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and child endangerment resulting in death. She was arrested in August 2017 after medics found 4-month-old Sterling Koehn dead in the swing in a dark, sweltering bedroom.

An autopsy shows he died of malnutrition, dehydration and an E. coli infection caused by being left in a maggot-infested diaper for up to two weeks.

The boy’s father, Zachary Koehn, already has been sentenced to life in prison .