GOLDEN — The case against Cheri Kostur, who is accused of allowing the baby she delivered in a toilet to drown, was nearly derailed by a mistrial Tuesday.
Kostur, 29, is charged with child abuse resulting in death. Prosecutors contend Kostur delivered a daughter, Kara, at her Lakewood home shortly after 4 a.m. on Jan. 21, 2007.
The trial will continue today with an 11-member jury after two were excused after it was learned they had talked about the case in violation of a court order.
Kara was “born alive, and she drowned,” prosecutor Natalie Judson told a jury in opening statements. Judson said Kostur heard the baby cry and waited two minutes before she pulled Kara’s body out of the toilet.
She put Kara’s body in a yellow wastebasket, where it was found along with the trash, Judson said.
Kostur’s mother confronted her angrily “about losing another grandchild,” Judson said, with Kostur responding: “Good. Now I can go hang out with my friends.”
Three other children born to Kostur are being cared for by paternal relatives.
The court recessed for lunch.
Ten of the jurors ate together in the court cafeteria. Two talked about reading about the case or seeing it on TV.
When they returned to the jury room, two more jurors joined them in notifying the court that they remembered some pretrial publicity.
District Court Judge Lily Oeffler summoned the four for questioning and excused two.
The prosecution and judge’s staff researched whether there had been news stories and came up empty.
It was agreed Kostur’s case probably was being confused with that of Erin Pendleton. She was sentenced in February to 40 years in prison for the 2004 death of the baby boy she delivered in the bathroom of a Cherry Creek sports bar.
Ann Schrader: 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com
