A DRUG-ADDICT mum who let her four-month-old baby boy rot to death in a maggot-infested swing has been jailed for life.

Cheyanne Harris, 22, showed no emotion after she was sentenced yesterday in New Hampton, Iowa.

It took jurors in Plymouth County about four hours to deliver their verdict on the charges of first-degree murder and child endangerment causing death on February 6.

Harris wore jail stripes and an orange jacket, and no family members attended her sentencing hearing.

Sterling Koehn was found rotting and bleeding from the mouth in a stifling apartment bedroom on August 30, 2017, in Chickasaw County.

Harris pleaded not guilty and was arrested after medics found the baby.

The baby’s autopsy shows he died of malnutrition, dehydration and an E. coli infection caused by being left in a maggot-infested nappy in a swing for up to two weeks.

Assistant Attorney General Coleman McAllister said the baby's heavily soiled nappy had attracted bugs that had laid eggs – which hatched into maggots.

NO EMOTION

The resulting nappy rash led to ruptured skin and e.Coli bacteria set in.

McAllister said: "He died of diaper rash. That's right, diaper rash."

Police said they found everything needed to care for a child such as new diapers and baby ointment to treat the rash, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports.

Zachary Koehn, the father, was also sentenced to life in prison.

He was said to have made £34,500 ($45,000) a year and had access to health insurance but the court heard the apartment smelled of decay, faeces and urine.

The infant was "rotting", and a medical examiner found maggots in his clothing and skin.

He weighed less than seven pounds, reports the Des Moines Register.

Eyes were open, and it was a blank stare

A forensic entomologist who examined insects on the infant's body concluded he had been left in the swing from nine to 14 days in the same diaper.

When Harris appeared in Plymouth County Courthouse in Le Mars late last month, she left the courtroom sobbing during the first day of her trial after prosecutors showed photos of her lifeless son in his swing set, bleeding from the mouth.

A public defender said that while the baby's death was a tragedy, it wasn't a planned murder, as Harris suffered from postpartum depression, but didn't intend harming her boy.

Nichole Watt said: "The monster, in this case, is mental health."

GNATS FLEW OUT OF BLANKET

During last year's trial of Koehn, prosecutors told a court in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, that the infant perished after his skin became infected with bacteria after spending up to a fortnight in the same nappy.

Koehn's lawyers had argued that the baby's death was a tragedy, but not a crime.

But the prosecution rubbished the defence’s claims, saying Koehn was an experienced parent noting that the accused’s two-year-old daughter was also in the apartment and was healthy.

Nurse and county rescue squad emergency medical technician Toni Friedrich testified that she was the first to arrive at the apartment after Koehn called 911 to report the baby had died.

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Friedrich said Koehn showed no emotion when he led her to the dark, hot bedroom where the baby's body was.

She said the baby's "eyes were open, and it was a blank stare".

Friedrich said when she touched the baby's chest, his clothing was crusty. When she moved his blanket, gnats flew up, she said.

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