Woman who killed pregnant friend, cut out baby gets 40 years to life

NEW YORK -- A Bronx woman who killed her pregnant friend and cut her baby out of her body was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years to life in prison.

Ashleigh Wade was found guilty in October of second-degree murder and kidnapping. She was sentenced to 25 years to life on the murder count and an additional 15 years for the kidnapping charge.

Wade pretended to be pregnant before killing her friend Angelikque Sutton and stealing her baby girl, claiming it was her daughter, back in 2015.

Wade had faked a pregnancy to her boyfriend, family and on social media, and when Sutton -- who was 8 1/2 months pregnant -- visited her Wakefield apartment under the guise of picking up a present, police say Wade stabbed Sutton to death. Prosecutors said her throat was slashed so she couldn't scream for help. The major blood vessels in her neck were cut, and she bled out.

Wade then used a paring knife to deliver baby Jenasis, who was present in the courtroom at the sentencing.

During the trial, prosecutors showed jurors bloody photos from inside Wade's apartment and described her as "calculating."

"She took a great deal of care to avoid the abdomen," the prosecutor said. "The defendant needed Ms. Sutton to die, and she needed Jenasis to live."

In her defense, Wade's attorney could only argue that "many of the facts are not in dispute. There could have been something that went horribly wrong in Ashleigh Wade's own mind."