The Lakeland girl accused of killing her newborn took a plea deal Wednesday.
Cassidy Goodson, 15, was facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of her newborn baby. She pleaded no contest to manslaughter as a juvenile.
The judge adjudicated her delinquent, meaning she will not carry an adult felony conviction, and followed the plea deal.
Goodson was sentenced by the judge to 18 months in a juvenile facility. After her release, she could be kept on probation until she's 22.
Goodson tried to keep her pregnancy a secret from her family, but on Sept. 19, the Kathleen High School student went into labor inside her family's mobile home in north Lakeland, investigators said.
Investigators said Goodson, who was 14 at the time, admitted to giving birth to a boy and strangling him. They say Goodson showed investigators how she hid the body inside a shoe box in a dresser
According to investigators, Goodson told detectives in a recorded interview she killed the baby because she was afraid of losing her close relationship with her parents and didn't want to ruin their image of her.