Baby-Buying Charges Dropped

A judge threw out child-trafficking charges Friday against a Wisconsin mother and daughter arrested as they allegedly tried to take a newborn boy out of Mexico.

Judge Eduardo Antonio Trejo Haas cited lack of evidence for the baby-buying charges against Laurie Henderson, 36, of Madison, Wis., and her mother, Beverly Gehrke, 58, of Sun Prairie, Wis.

While dropping the key charge of child trafficking - which could have brought a nine-year prison term - Trejo ruled that Henderson must stand trial on charges of falsifying a birth record and acting under false pretenses.

Those charges carry a maximum sentence of three years.