Hearing delayed on teenager accused of killing her newborn

PORT ANGELES — A court hearing on the admissibility of statements accused teenage murderer Lauryn Last made to police about her dead newborn son, which was originally scheduled for this morning, was postponed.

That hearing will be rescheduled during a status hearing on the case at 9 a.m. Friday in Clallam County Superior Court.

The hearing on the admissibility of evidence was postponed so that Suzanne and John Hayden, representing Last, could fully prepare, John Hayden said today.

“We’re not ready yet,” he said.

The couple recently returned from Africa on private business, he added.

Last, 17 and charged with second-degree murder, has pleaded not guilty in the death of her newborn son, whose body was found in a trash bin near Tacoma after garbage from the container had been shipped from the Port Angeles transfer station.

Authorities say Last, a recent transplant to Port Angeles from Colorado, was 16 when she drowned the infant in the toilet and put the corpse in a trash container in an alley about Dec. 31, 2008,

Suzanne Hayden has said the teenager did not know she was in labor and went into shock when she gave birth while on a toilet.

The infant was full-term and died by drowning, according to court documents.

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Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.

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