Delaware v. Grossberg and Peterson Grossberg To Serve Two-and-Half Years; Peterson Receives Two-Year Sentence July 9 (Court TV) -- Different sentences were issued to the former high school sweethearts who pled guilty to the manslaughter in the death of their infant child. Attorneys for Brian Peterson and Amy Grossberg on Cochran & Company Part 1 Part 2 Download Realplayer Amy Grossberg learned that she would spend two-and-half years in prison while her former lover Brian Peterson will serve a two-year sentence for the 1996 death of their child. Both Grossberg, 19, and Peterson, 20, received an eight-year sentences. But Grossberg had all but the two-and-a-half years suspended while Peterson had six years suspended. Because Grossberg has already served 64 days in prison, she will actually serve only two years and four months in prison. Gasping and sobbing in court, Grossberg, 19, said that she was "extremely sorry" for what she did to her baby. After she learned her sentence, Grossberg hugged her relatives in attendance individually as she was taken away by court personnel. Peterson, 20, also told the court that he was sorry for what he had done to his son and that there was nothing he could do to make up for his actions Amy Grossberg: Admitted unintentionally killing her newborn. Grossberg, and Peterson pled separately to manslaughter. Grossberg agreed to a plea after Peterson told prosecutors that he would testify against her at trial. Both Grossberg and Peterson could have faced up to 10 years in prison. Grossberg and Peterson asked Superior Court Judge Henry duPont Ridgely for leniency and to consider their clients' lack of previous criminal record and young age when deciding their sentences. But in his decision, Judge Ridgely found that Grossberg was more irresponsible than Peterson in the handling of her pregnancy. After the hearing, prosecutors explained the differences in the sentences by saying that Grossberg was selfish for not seeking prenatal care as Peterson had allegedly suggested. They insisted that Grossberg repeatedly rejected Peterson's urgings to go to a hospital on the night of the incident because she wanted to hide the pregnancy from her mother. An attractive couple from the affluent suburb in Wyckoff, N.J., Grossberg and Peterson were trying to hide Grossberg's pregnancy when they went to the Comfort Inn in November 1996. There, Grossberg gave birth and in a panic, the baby was disposed of in the motel dumpster. The infant's body was discovered the next day; Grossberg's hidden pregnancy -- and her link with Peterson to the dead disposed infant -- was uncovered soon after Grossberg experienced post-delivery hemorrhaging. Brian Peterson: His impending testimony at Grossberg's trial led to her plea bargain. At first, it seemed Grossberg and Peterson would remain united when they were first indicted for their baby's death in December 1996. They first claimed the baby was stillborn. But when an autopsy showed that the baby was born alive and that he suffered various fatal head fractures, their legal paths diverged. They began blaming each other for their child's death. Peterson insisted that Grossberg urged him to dispose of the baby; Grossberg claimed that Peterson acted alone in throwing the child in the dumpster. In March 1998, Peterson pled guilty to manslaughter in exchange for his testimony against Grossberg at her trial. In the plea agreement, Peterson admitted disposing of the baby, saying that he and Grossberg panicked when she gave birth and experienced complications. Peterson claimed that he thought the infant was born dead and insisted that his girlfriend begged him to "Get rid of it!" Peterson's lawyers said that he regretted not seeking medical help for the baby and not getting medical confirmation that he was stillborn. When Grossberg learned in detail what Peterson would say against her at trial, she agreed to a plea bargain on April 22. She acknowledged unintentionally causing the death of the infant and said that she and Peterson never planned to kill the baby. Initially, prosecutors considered charging Grossberg and Peterson with first-degree murder and seeking the death penalty. But after Peterson's plea bargain, prosecutors then decided to seek lesser charges of second-degree murder and murder by abuse or neglect against Grossberg. -- Bryan Robinson Text of Brian Peterson's Plea Agreement| Text of Amy Grossberg's Plea Agreement| April 22 Update Top of page