Emile Weaver looks toward the gallery while addressing the court during her sentencing in Muskingum County Common Pleas Court in Zanesville, Ohio. Picture: Chris Crook/Times Recorder via AP

Emile Weaver, 21, was found guilty by a jury last month of aggravated murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence following the birth of her baby girl.

An Ohio court heard how Weaver gave birth in her sorority house after keeping her pregnancy under wraps.

Prosecutors said Weaver gave birth in a bathroom at the Delta Gamma Theta sorority at Muskingum University on April 22, 2015, then purposefully caused the death of her baby.

They said the baby girl died from asphyxiation after Weaver put her in a plastic garbage bag and left it outside the sorority house.

Weaver, of Clarington, testified at trial that she had been in denial about the pregnancy and thought the baby was already dead when she put her in the bag.

She tearfully apologised in court and said she will appeal the sentence.

Weaver was found guilty by a jury last month of aggravated murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. Picture: Chris Crook/Times Recorder via APSource:AP

Judge Mark Fleegle could have sentenced Weaver to life with a chance for parole in as little as 20 years, which was requested by her lawyer, but the judge said he wasn’t convinced she was remorseful.

Fleegle referred to text messages from Weaver sent afterwards to the man she thought was the baby’s father that said: “No more baby,” followed by “taken care of.”

Prosecutors said at trial that Weaver knew she was pregnant all along and engaged in risky behaviours like drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and playing in a dodge ball tournament because she never intended to keep the baby.

Weaver wrote in a letter to Fleegle before her sentencing that she didn’t fully comprehend her actions until she was staring at the body of the baby, who was named Addison, in a tiny casket at her funeral.

“I ask God for forgiveness, and today, all I can do is ask for all of yours,” she said in court.

Early in the process, Weaver had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but the judge ruled that she was mentally competent.

Muskingum County Prosecutor D Michael Haddox said he was satisfied with the sentence.

“We believe justice has been served as best as humanly possible,” he said.

Muskingum County Prosecutor D Michael Haddox (left) shows Weaver a bottle of the supplement black cohosh while questioning her on the stand. Picture: Chris Crook/Times Recorder via APSource:AP

‘LIKE A MURDER SCENE’

Weaver’s pregnancy didn’t go completely unnoticed, with at least four of her sorority sisters becoming suspicious of her recent weight gain.

When blood was noticed in the bathroom, those suspicious grew, The Washington Post reported.

The sorority house manager noticed the blood in the bathroom and texted all the residents ordering whoever was responsible to come and clean it up, adding “it looks like a murder scene.”

According to the Zanesville Times Recorder, following the discovery of blood one of the sorority sisters decided to check the garbage, tearing a hole in a bag found on the ground.

“We kept shaking the bag,” Madison Bates said. “And I saw a baby’s foot.”

Weaver disposed of her newborn baby in a garbage bag outside the Delta Gamma Theta sorority house. Picture: Chris Crook/Times Recorder via APSource:AP

Just months before in early September of 2014, Weaver visited the university’s wellness centre wanting to obtain birth control, but a test confirmed she was already pregnant.

However she didn’t answer the clinic’s calls, voicemails or texts.

Weeks later, she began wearing baggy clothes and would hold pillows over her growing stomach, arousing suspicious further.

Once the baby was discovered, police were called and Weaver was soon interviewed by police.

She later admitted the baby was born alive but told police she threw her in the bin after believing she had stopped moving.