From: http://www.courttv.com/trials/news/1203/17_infants_ap.html COURTTV.COM - TRIALS - Woman convicted of killing three babies in 1980s; remains found in shed Saturday, Dec. 20, 2003 Updated Dec. 17, 2003, 10:30 a.m. ET Woman convicted of killing three babies in 1980s; remains found in shed MONTICELLO, N.Y. (AP) - A woman was convicted Tuesday of killing three of her infant children during the 1980s, a case brought after mummified remains were found in a storage shed in Arizona this year. After about four hours of deliberations, a jury found Diane Odell, 50, guilty of second-degree murder, ruling that she acted with a depraved indifference to human life. Odell stared straight ahead as the verdict was read. In one hand she held a rosary; in the other, her lawyer's hand. The babies died shortly after they were born between 1982 and 1985 in Kauneonga Lake, about 80 miles north of New York City. Odell was arrested in May after the remains, wrapped in towels and blankets, were found in cardboard boxes in a storage shed in Safford, Ariz. Second-degree murder carries a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 25 years to life. As she was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs, Odell turned and addressed her common-law husband, Robert Sauerstein, and six of her eight surviving children. "Don't cry guys," she said. "Love you." Odell's lawyer, Stephan Schick, said he would appeal. Prosecutor Steve Lungen told jurors during closing arguments Monday that Odell hid the remains to hide her crime. "She talks about ringing in her ears," he said. "The screaming in her ears she's telling you about, that's the screaming of those babies. She's been hearing it for 27 years." Schick, who called no witnesses, said Odell delivered the babies without medical help at home because she was scared to tell her mother she was pregnant. Schick maintained the babies died naturally and Odell carried their remains from state to state because she couldn't bear to part with them. In a recording played at trial, Odell described delivering the babies, passing out and waking up to find them dead. "I think I should go to jail," Odell said in the recording. "It's hard to live every day, every day, knowing that you have to look at yourself in the mirror, and know that you didn't have the courage or the tenacity to stand up for three little kids that -- who needed a mother and a life, because if -- if my mother hadn't been alive, none of this would ever have occurred." During the three-day trial, Lungen tried to prove the infants did not die of natural causes. A prosecution pathologist testified that they died of traumatic asphyxiation and showed no congenital defects or heart abnormalities. Odell also had another baby whose remains were found in 1989 in a car at a junkyard in Sullivan County. Prosecutors did not have enough evidence to pursue the case. Sauerstein, the husband, said that Odell felt bad about what happened to the babies, and that the family believes she did not kill them. "She's a very good person. My kids are very upset," he said. The couple's son, 14-year-old Robert D. Sauerstein, said he was proud of his mother. "She's the best," he said. Court TV Movie 3pm ET/PT: In the Company of Darkness 5pm ET/PT: Above Suspicion Saturday Night Solution 8:00-11:00pm: A special line-up of investigation, forensics, science and puzzle solving Extreme Evidence 8:00pm: Investigators attempt to recreate a fatal crash Masterminds 8:30pm: Five accomplices pull off the largest hotel heist ever Forensic Files 9:00pm: A watchband helps solve the mystery of a missing woman Body of Evidence 9:30pm: Profiler Dayle Hinman investigates a mystery The System 10:00pm: Daddy Dearest - A defense attorney goes on trial *All times ET/PT Contact us (c)2003 Courtroom Television Network LLC. All Rights Reserved. Terms & Privacy Guidelines Body of Evidence COPS Court TV Movie Crier Live Dominick Dunne Extreme Evidence Forensic Files Fake Out Hollywood at Large Hollywood Justice I, Detective Impossible Heists Masterminds Mugshots NYPD Blue Profiler The System