US woman gets 20 years in prison in breast feeding overdose

Wise argued that prosecutors didn't prove how the baby got the morphine and there is little scientific evidence that enough morphine can gather in breast milk to kill an infant.

Green already suffered an immeasurable loss with the death of her child and shouldn't have to face prison time, Wise said.

Society wants to portray people who need painkillers as drug addicts and horrible people, but Greene and others often are just trying to get through each day without debilitating pain, her lawyer said.

“She needed those meds to get up in the morning and function,” Wise said. “She was on total disability because of her pain, her fibromyalgia and all the other things wrong with her.”

Greene will have to serve 16 years in prison before she is eligible for parole.