DECATUR - Melissa R. Hilton must wait until Oct. 27 to find out what her future will hold.

The 29-year-old woman was found not guilty by reason of insanity June 30 during a bench trial before Associate Judge Lisa Holder White on charges of involuntary manslaughter and endangering the life or health of a child in connection with the drowning of her 11-month-old daughter.

Hilton was in court Wednesday for a hearing on recommendations made by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services in her case.

Hilton is pregnant and anticipates delivering her child in about a month. Because of that pending event, the defense sought a continuance sufficient to allow Hilton to recover following the birth.

White said she would grant the continuance to Oct. 27 but ordered Hilton to refrain from consuming any alcoholic liquor and prohibited her from having any alcohol in her home. The judge also ordered Hilton to comply with recommendations made by Decatur psychiatrist Dr. Rohidas Patil pertaining to medications or treatment.

The defense retained Patil to examine Hilton, and a report on the findings has been filed with White.

Neither those recommendations nor those of the Healthcare Department were revealed in court Wednesday.

Macon County State's Attorney Jack Ahola said the state wants to make sure that Hilton follows the direction of mental health professionals as to what she needs to do to restore and maintain her mental health.

Police were called to Hilton's home at 11:32 a.m. March 7, 2007, when her mother found Hilton unconscious in a bathtub with her infant daughter, Emma Rylie Hilton, floating in the tub. Efforts to resuscitate the child failed.

Hilton told police she had been drinking all night and consumed as many as 36 cans of beer before getting into the bathtub with her daughter sometime after 7 a.m. March 7.

A test performed at a hospital about five hours after Hilton stopped drinking found her blood alcohol content was 0.222 percent, far above the legal intoxication limit of 0.08 percent for driving set by Illinois law.

Ron Ingram can be reached at ringram@ herald-review.com or 421-7973.