By Elizabeth Ladzinski
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The woman accused of abducting a baby from Harlem Hospital 23 years ago did raise the child, but didn't do the kidnapping, her lawyer said Thursday.
Ann Pettway, 49, pleaded not guilty on Manhattan Federal Court to kidnapping Carlina White, who was taken from the hospital in 1987 when she was just 19 days old, the New York Post reported.
Her public defender, Robert Baum, conceded that Pettway cared for White, whom she raised as Nejdra Nance.
"The question is whether she was kidnapping her or whether the baby was given to her," Baum said, according to the Post.
He said he was trying to track down another woman who was dressed in a nurse's uniform who may have been responsible for the abduction, the paper reported.
Joy White, the biological mother of Carlina White, came face-to-face with Pettway for the first time at the hearing and broke down, the paper said.
At the hearing, Pettway only said "Yes, sir" after being asked by federal Judge Kevin Castel if she was pleading not guilty, the Post said.
