NORWICH – A woman accused of killing her adopted son appeared in court Friday.

Heather Franklin, who has been out on $125,000 cash bail since April, appeared for a pretrial hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to take her case to trial. Her co-defendant and husband Ernest Franklin is being held in jail without bail.

The couple is charged with second-degree murder, a class A-1 felony; third-degree arson, a class C felony; and tampering with physical evidence, a class E felony.

Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride said, "Mrs. Franklin had her pretrial hearings, at that time the court is to make a determination on whether or not there is reasonable cause to issue the search warrants, and we had the burden of showing that the statements that were made to any law enforcement personnel were voluntarily made." He went on to say he believes both of those burdens were met.

Appearing in court, Chenango County Sheriff's Detective John Fern testified Friday that police had probable cause before conducting a search of the couple private property. He claimed information from an autopsy indicated the cause of death was not consistent with an accidental fire, and so police moved forward with a criminal investigation.