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MONTGOMERY, Alabama — The Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied conditional release to a woman who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of her newborn son last year and a man convicted of rape and burglary more than a decade ago, according to the Baldwin County District Attorney’s Office.

Marsha Gossett Colby, 47, was charged with killing and burying the boy in 2005 near one of 2 campers where she, her common-law husband and several children lived in Orange Beach.

Colby was convicted of capital murder in 2007 and given life without parole.

But the Alabama Supreme Court overturned the verdict, citing problems with the jury-selection process. The court also raised concerns about whether the state had enough evidence to prove that the baby was born alive.

Colby ultimately pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years. District Attorney Hallie Dixon said she made a point of traveling to the parole hearing in Montgomery last week.

“I am committed to doing my part to attend these hearings and trying to make sure she stays in prison where she belongs,” Dixon said.

Assistant District Attorney David Matheny attended Wednesday’s parole hearing for Michael Levon Rencher of Daphne.

Rencher was sentenced in 1995 to 3 life terms in prison. Those prison terms were for his conviction in the rape of an 18-year-old woman and for burglarizing her home in 1994, and for the attempted rape of a 63-year-old woman. His request for parole was denied Wednesday.

“When the district attorney is represented, it really makes a big difference,” Matheny said.

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