Jeffrey Collins

The Associated Press;

COLUMBIA — A Campobello woman received a 20-year prison sentence today for killing her daughter with a morphine overdose from breast milk.

Stephanie I. Greene, 39, was found guilty of homicide by child abuse, involuntary manslaughter and unlawful conduct toward a child, according to Solicitor Barry Barnett. She will serve 80 percent of the prison sentence before she is eligible for release.

Greene's 46-day-old daughter, Alexis, was found dead in her parents' bed on Nov. 13, 2010.

A Spartanburg County jury found Greene guilty of homicide by child abuse Thursday.

A pathologist testified the infant had what could have been a lethal level of morphine for an adult in her system in November 2010. Prosecutors say Greene hid her pregnancy from her doctors and didn't tell them she was breast feeding so they would continue to prescribe painkillers.

Greene's lawyer says prosecutors never proved how the baby got the morphine or that heavy doses of the painkiller could pass through breast milk.