STORY: " Jury struggles to reach verdict in child death trial; Day care worker convicted of involuntary manslaughter," by reporter Patrick Yeagle published by the Illinois Times on December 16, 2015.
GIST: The
trial of a day care worker accused of shaking a baby to death concluded
this week with the jury convicting her of involuntary manslaughter
after more than 12 hours of deliberations. The case tested a
controversial theory about certain child deaths, pitting conventional
wisdom against a more nuanced alternative explanation. The conviction
amounts to an endorsement of shaken baby syndrome and a blow to the
movement set on disproving the theory. Cammie Kelly, 68, of
Springfield, was charged with aggravated battery and first-degree murder
after 11-month-old Kaiden Gullidge of Rochester went unconscious at her
home day care in 2011 and later died. Sangamon County State’s Attorney
John Milhiser dismissed the aggravated battery charge before the trial’s
closing arguments on Dec. 15. Kelly’s trial began Dec. 8 and concluded
Dec. 16 with the verdict coming around 1 p.m. The case revolves
around the controversial theory of “shaken baby syndrome,” which is
often used to explain child deaths with no other apparent cause.
Although shaken baby syndrome is taught in some medical schools and is
taken as gospel by many doctors, the theory has come under increased
scrutiny, and there is no medical consensus on the underlying science.
As a result, criminal trials like Kelly’s have repeatedly raised
unanswered questions about the theory, with inconsistent outcomes......... Kelly’s trial featured testimony
from 12 doctors offering highly technical and sometimes conflicting
testimony. At issue was whether the “triad” of shaken baby syndrome
cases – brain swelling, brain bleeding and retinal bleeding – observed
in Kaiden’s brain scans resulted from a clotted blood vessel or from
shaking. Kaiden had a history of medical issues that the defense said
points to a stroke, but the prosecution argued that Kaiden’s medical
issues were inconsequential. The prosecution showed grisly photos from
Kaiden’s autopsy, attempting to establish that his bruises and his other
symptoms were evidence of abuse. Dr. Channing Petrak, medical
director of the Pediatric Resource Center in Peoria, examined Kaiden on
Jan. 19. She didn’t notice bruises on Kaiden until the autopsy after his
death on Jan. 20, but her testimony at Kelly’s trial originally implied
that she based her suspicion of abuse on bruises from her Jan. 19
examination. John Rogers, Kelly’s defense attorney, grilled Petrak about
the inconsistency, using it to imply that she sees every case as abuse
regardless of the evidence. Petrak is a polarizing figure in the
controversy over shaken baby syndrome. Her organization, which is part
of the University of Illinois College of Medicine, examines children in
cases where abuse is suspected. She’s seen by prosecutors as an
impartial evaluator, but defense attorneys see Petrak as part of an
industry that profits from indiscriminately labeling cases as abuse. Petrak
previously testified for the prosecution in the 2012 Springfield case
of Richard Britts, who was accused of shaking his daughter but later
acquitted when his trial revealed that the girl’s symptoms – the triad
common in all shaken baby syndrome cases – were caused by an apparent
seizure. The lack of a medical consensus on shaken baby syndrome
was readily apparent at Kelly’s trial. Some of the 12 doctors,
testifying for the prosecution, said they are certain Kaiden was abused.
Dr. Scott Denton, who performed the autopsy, said he could only tell
there was blunt force trauma. Still others, testifying for the defense,
said Kaiden’s brain showed signs of previous clotting, which would point
to a renewed clot and a resulting stroke as his cause of death."
The entire story can be found at:
http://illinoistimes.com/print-article-16559-print.html
See 'ON SBS' post: "A tough decision for the jury, a tragedy for the defendant"; "After hours of deliberation, an Illinois jury convicted child care
provider Cammie Kelly of manslaughter earlier this month but found her
innocent of murder, in what reporter Patrick Yeagle of the
Illinois Times called “an endorsement of shaken baby syndrome and a blow to the movement set on disproving the theory.” Although disappointed at another conviction, I was pleased to see
news coverage that recognizes a debate over shaken baby theory, and I
was intrigued by an
interview Yeagle gave last week with Rachel Otwell of NPR Illinois. Yeagle, who also wrote about the 2011
appeal on behalf of Pam Jacobazzi and the 2012
acquittal of Springfield father Richard Britts, summarized his observations for NPR:" Patrick Yeagle: "Wondering if Yeagle had started questioning shaken baby theory, I
contacted him. While not taking a position in the debate, he explained
that he sees “no consensus” about shaken baby in the medical community,
where most doctors seem to accept the common knowledge but others seem
to be raising “some serious, unanswered questions” about the diagnosis.
“Unfortunately,” he said, “the debate is being conducted in the
courtroom, where people’s liberty and lives are at stake.”
http://onsbs.com/2015/12/29/a-tough-decision-for-both-jury-and-defendant/