Lawyer challenges death reporting law

SIOUX FALLS (AP) — A defense lawyer for a South Dakota woman charged under a new child death reporting law is challenging its constitutionality in a bid to dismiss the charge.

Twenty-nine-year-old Laurie Cournoyer and her husband, 21-year-old Taylor Cournoyer, were charged with child abuse, failing to report a death of a child and various drug charges after a 2-year-old was found dead in a closet at their rural South Dakota home. Prosecutors say the child was dead for more than a day and a half before the death was reported.

Lawyer Scott Swier is filing a motion saying the reporting law violates his client's right against self-incrimination. The law was modeled after one in Florida passed after Caylee Anthony's death.

Swier's motion was given to The Associated Press ahead of its filing Tuesday.

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