The New Jersey woman who
threw a stranger’s 5-year-old daughter in front of an oncoming train as part of
a “human sacrifice” will stand trial after pleading not guilty.
Autumn N. Matacchiera,
20, was charged with first-degree attempted murder after she allegedly tossed a
little girl she didn’t know on the tracks at the Burlington township light rail
station.
Matacchiera pleaded not
guilty to the crime during a Tuesday appearance at the Burlington County
Superior Court, the Courier-Post reports.
Her attorney, Brenda
Maneri, told the judge Matacchiera plans to plead not guilty by reason of
insanity and will request a bench trial.
Matacchiera was arrested
in January after she grabbed a woman’s child and tossed the girl in front
of an approaching River LINE train.
An officer witnessed the
incident and was able to signal for the train to stop, as the woman’s boyfriend
jumped onto the tracks to retrieve the child.
The girl was taken to
the hospital with minor cuts and bruises.
Matacchiera told the
Courier-Post shortly after the incident that she was trying to sacrifice the
girl to win the love of an estranged relative.
“I didn’t think it was anything bad,” she said.
“Now, I kind of regret it. People tell me that sacrificing a human isn’t the
same as sacrificing the animal.”
Matacchiera’s
mother told NJ.com that her daughter has been in and out of mental
health facilities for years, but was “not a criminal.”
“She has mental health issues,” Laura Matacchiera
told the outlet. “It’s an ongoing problem.”
A trial date has been
set for Nov. 8.
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