One charged dropped against mother in death of her 4 month old son

A Calhoun County judge Wednesday dropped one of two charges against the mother of a 4-month-old boy who died Friday after being left in a car, after prosecutors agreed the law creating that offense does not apply in her case. The charge against 35 year old Katherine Elizabeth Papke, of leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle was dismissed by District Court Judge Chris McIntyre. She remains charged with manslaughter. Papke was charged Friday after she called police, having discovered she’d left her infant son in her car in a parking lot at McClellan, where she works, according to her attorney. The infant, Bennett Owen Smith, was later pronounced dead at Regional Medical Center. The charge of leaving the child unattended came under a law enacted Aug. 1. Police said Papke was the first Anniston resident charged with the crime.