I think their defense is going to be that she was a good mother, but being young, she wasn't too worried when the babysitter didn't bring her back...& not one to pass up the chance for some 'me' time, she was hanging out and partying, while just kind of waiting on the babysitter. Which would've been almost believable, if she had said that in the 1st place. But, I guess they could answer that with...by the time her mother found out, she realized that the situation had turned serious & didn't want to admit to how 'negligent' she had been, and things just snowballed from there. Don't jump on me, lol, but I'm seriously trying to think of a defense & this is all I could come up with. MOO. (& this is a believable defense, because I've personally babysat for mothers who left their kids for weeks at a time )