U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland says he is uncomfortable handing down a sentence of eight to 10 years to a woman who has admitted leaving her infant son to die in her home in 1998.

Dana Deegan, 34, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder this morning at the federal courthouse in Bismarck. Under a plea agreement entered into court record on Nov. 30, prosecutors agreed to dismiss an indictment charging Deegan with first-degree murder and false statements.

Federal sentencing guidelines call for Deegan to receive a sentence of between eight years and one month and 10 years and one month for the crime.

Hovland explained that 90 percent of sentences handed down by federal judges in the United States fall within sentencing guidelines. However, judges can depart upward or downward from the guidelines, he said.

"I'm not bound by what the parties may have agreed to in a plea agreement," he said. "I'm not comfortable with eight to 10 years based on the limited information I have now."

Hovland said he has looked back at other sentences he has handed down in second degree murder cases he has presided over.

"The sentences were not even close to that," he said, adding that if the crime were to have happened now, the sentence range would be 14 to 18 years.

Deegan pleaded guilty Monday to the murder of her infant son, born Oct. 20, 1998. According to court documents, she delivered the full-term baby at home. She cleaned the child, fed him, dressed him and wrapped him in towels and blankets before taking her other children, aged 1, 2 and 5 years old at the time, and leaving him alone for approximately two weeks.

The child was dead when Deegan returned to her mobile home in Mandaree, and she placed him in a suitcase and put the suitcase in a ditch 500 yards from her home, court documents say.

The suitcase and the child inside were found on Nov. 4, 1999, by a rancher repairing fences in the area. The child has been known as "Baby Doe" or "Baby Moses" since it was found. Community members paid for burial expenses for the child, since his identity and family were unknown at the time.

Deegan was identified as the mother of the child in February by DNA tests. She said Monday no one knew she was pregnant with "Baby Moses." She said at the time she was overwhelmed by other things going on in her life, such as her children's father's drug addictions and her father's diagnosis of cancer and cirrhosis of the liver. She said she was not working and was on welfare at the time.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Clare Hochhalter, who is prosecuting the case, deferred comment to U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley.

Wrigley, who was not present at Monday's hearing, issued a statement in the case, in which he commended the continued work of FBI agents on the case.

"Their work was first rate and they refused to let this case go unsolved," he said.

"Dana Deegan has now pled guilty to the intentional murder of her baby boy," Wrigley said. "But I want to point out that while she's pled guilty now, Dana Deegan has done everything that she could to avoid responsibility in this case dating all the way back to October of 1998. Baby Moses' life ended in the ravages of starvation and dehydration. But today, there's justice for that child, a child who was completely dependent upon the woman who chose to take his life. It's absolutely gut wrenching."

For more information, check back at www.bismarcktribune.com and Tuesday's paper.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@bismarcktribune.com.)

The audio file below is of U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley commenting on the case.