a document confessing that she had murdered Tami Lynne, Timothy, and Nathan. She was arrested and charged with Tami Lynne's murder. Marybeth later claimed that her confession was made under duress, that police had threatened her, and that her repeated requests for a lawyer were denied. Dr. Michael M. Baden, the lead forensic pathologist and member of the New York State Police's special forensic unit, determined that Tami Lynne's death was a result of smothering. After charging Marybeth in the killing, officials said that they considered the deaths of the eight other Tinning children to be suspicious. Marybeth Tinning made her $100,000 bail payment and was released from custody until her trial date. Trial and conviction Tinning's murder trial began in Schenectady County Court on June 22, 1987. Dr. Bradley Ford, Tami Lynne's pediatrician, testified on behalf of the prosecution, saying Tinning had dismissed his suggestion that, due to her previous children's deaths, she should install a specialized alarm device enabling the monitoring of the baby's breathing and heart rate. Two additional prosecution witnesses, Dr. Marie Valdes-Dapena of the SIDS Foundation, and Schenectady County medical examiner Thomas Oram, testified that they had concluded that Tami Lynne was smothered to death with a soft object. After the six-week trial, the jury deliberated for twenty-three hours across three days, and found Tinning guilty of on one count of second-degree murder. During their deliberation, jurors called for a read-back of the portions of Joseph's testimony recounting his wife's alleged confession to State Police. In his testimony, Joseph said that he had a five-minute conversation with his wife after the police questioning, and she told him, "I killed Tami". Marybeth was acquitted by the seven-man, five-woman jury of the count of "deliberately" causing the infant's death, but was convicted of murder by "depraved-indifference to human life" count. Tinning placed her hands over her eyes and sobbed quietly as the verdict was announced. Joseph later said, "I still think she's innocent." Judge Clifford Harrigan vacated Tinning's $100,000 bail, ordering that she be held in the Schenectady County Jail pending her sentencing trial. Tinning received a sentence of twenty years to life in prison, five years shorter than the maximum penalty for the crime. She was imprisoned at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women. She appealed on the grounds that her confession was not voluntarily given and that her conviction was not supported by sufficient