Woman Convicted of Killing Newborn

SAN FERNANDO, Calif. – A 25-year-old woman has been convicted of killing her newborn son and putting his body in a trunk, officials said.

Maria Legarda (search), of the Los Angeles suburb North Hills, was found guilty of second-degree murder and assault on a child causing death, the district attorney's office said Thursday in a statement.

Legarda is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 1 and faces a maximum term of 40 years to life in prison.

She allegedly killed her newborn son in August 2003 and placed him in a suitcase in her home, said Deputy District Attorney Richard Taklender. Legarda later went to Olive View Medical Center (search) in the North Hills area and claimed the bout two years before her arrest and worked as a clothing store manager.