Woman imprisoned for drowning newborn seeks early release

NIANTIC: A Connecticut woman who drowned her newborn daughter in a toilet in 2006 is asking the state's parole board to reduce her 18-year prison sentence.

Panna Krom ('KROME) of Danbury is scheduled to go before the parole board on Wednesday at the York women's prison.

Krom's lawyer, Vicki Hutchinson, says Krom already is rehabilitated and is a model prisoner. Hutchinson says Krom earned her high school diploma, mentors younger prisoners and speaks to visiting high school students.

Hutchinson says other people who committed similar crimes received far less prison time.

Krom was 17 when she delivered the baby in a bathroom of her parents' home, then drowned her in a toilet. Hutchinson says Krom was afraid because her parents, who are from Cambodia, disapprove of premarital sex.