shaken baby syndrome

15 Stories

Nanny Was to Go on Trial for Baby's Death. Then, a Reversal

3 years after Rehma Sabir died, medical examiner changed her mind on homicide ruling

(Newser) - "If two people are left in an apartment in the morning, and at the end of the day, one of them is dead, there’s no way that there would not be a trial in that situation." Except that scenario Sameer Sabir described is the one he found...

The Baby Slept All Day. She Never Woke Up
The Baby Slept All Day.
She Never Woke Up
longform
Dec 25, 2021 7:41 AM CST

The Baby Slept All Day. She Never Woke Up

CNN tells the multi-part story of Rehma Sabir

(Newser) - In CNN's telling, there been a growing but misguided effort in recent years to try to attack the science behind shaken baby syndrome in court, "efforts [that] are even keeping cases of alleged child abuse from coming to trial." It takes a deep, multi-part dive into one...

1985 Shaken Baby Case Yields New Murder Charge

Terry McKirchy could face life in prison if convicted in Florida

(Newser) - Babysitter Terry McKirchy got a light sentence 36 years ago after pleading no contest to attempted murder for shaking 5-month-old Benjamin Dowling so severely that he suffered permanent brain damage—weekends in jail for three months and three years probation. But now McKirchy is facing a possible life sentence after...

Shaken Baby Dies 20 Years Later, Dad Faces Murder Charge

Olin Shane Tannery already spent several years behind bars for assault of his son

(Newser) - Olin Shane Tannery spent years in prison for assaulting his infant son—and now the Missouri father might end up back behind bars after that son died two decades later. The Kansas City Star reports on the 39-year-old's indictment for second-degree murder, almost seven months after his 20-year-old son...

Execution Halted Over Shaken Baby Syndrome 'Junk Science'

Robert Roberson was convicted of murdering his 2-year-old daughter in 2002

(Newser) - A man on death row in Texas has been granted a last-minute reprieve after his lawyers successfully argued he was convicted on "junk science" regarding shaken baby syndrome, Reuters reports. Robert Roberson, who had been scheduled to be executed June 21, was convicted in 2002 of murdering his 2-year-old...

Boy Shaken as Baby Dies 12 Years Later

Aiden Stein never recovered

(Newser) - A 12-year-old boy who was shaken as a baby and remained in a vegetative state for the rest of his life has died, authorities said Wednesday. Aiden Stein died Sunday at a Columbus hospital. The case drew national attention when his parents waged a successful legal fight to prevent a...

Dad Charged After Baby He Shook Dies 23 Years Later

Christopher Barber had already served time for the abuse

(Newser) - Christopher Barber served nearly five years in a Pennsylvania prison in the 1990s for shaking his fussy baby boy and flinging him onto a couch so hard that he suffered catastrophic brain damage. Now Barber is behind bars again, charged with homicide, following his son's death at age 23...

Girl Dies Decade After Abuse, Babysitter Charged

Christopher Byrd has already served time for crime

(Newser) - A babysitter has been charged with murdering the child in his care after an incident in 2005. Here’s the weird part: the girl died this January. Authorities say Christopher Byrd violently shook the 11-month-old daughter of his girlfriend, whom he lived with in La Habra, Calif., until she fell...

Why Shaken Baby Syndrome Is Dividing the Medical World

The telltale signs could result from other, and previous, injuries

(Newser) - When murder charges were dropped last month against Irish nanny Aisling Brady McCarthy—who cared for a 1-year-old baby in Cambridge, Mass., who died of what looked like shaken baby syndrome in 2013—it was only the second time since 2006 that the state medical examiner changed the manner of...

Girl Dies After Being Shaken by Father—15 Years Ago

Father could now be charged with murder

(Newser) - When little Baylee Rose Duggins was just 3 months old, she was hospitalized after being shaken by her biological father—and 15 years later, she died as a result of that abuse. Baylee suffered severe head trauma, and the resulting brain damage left her legally blind and unable to walk,...

Zimmerman Lawyer Invokes Shaken Baby Syndrome

Hal Uhrig argues that Zimmerman could have died in confrontation

(Newser) - George Zimmerman's lawyers put forth a novel assertion on CBS today, when lawyer Hal Uhrig suggested that Zimmerman was justified in shooting Trayvon Martin because he might have gotten… shaken baby syndrome? "People have said, the force was too much even if he broke his nose and slammed...

Child Abuse Rose With Recession
 Child Abuse Rose 
 With Recession 
study says
Sep 19, 2011 8:17 AM CDT

Child Abuse Rose With Recession

Study provides first hard data showing a link

(Newser) - A disturbing trend: Child abuse rises in recession, a new study from Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington shows. From 2004 to 2007, 8.9 out of 100,000 children under five ended up in the hospital each year with severe brain injuries. From the December 2007 crash to 2009, that...

Doctors Often Get It Wrong in Deaths of Children
Doctors Often Get It Wrong
in Deaths of Children
investigation
Jun 28, 2011 12:50 PM CDT

Doctors Often Get It Wrong in Deaths of Children

And people are being wrongly convicted of murder as a result: ProPublica

(Newser) - Shoddy post-mortem examinations by doctors has led to scores of people being wrongly convicted in the deaths of children, a joint investigation by Pulitzer-winner ProPublica , NPR, and Frontline reveals. The report details 25 cases in which people were convicted and subsequently cleared, often after serving years in prison. And it...

Famed Mountaineer Falls to Death

Switzerland's Erhard Loretan had climbed the world's biggest peaks

(Newser) - One of the world's top mountain climbers fell to this death today, reports the BBC . Switzerland's Erhard Loretan—one of a relative handful of climbers to have scaled all 14 world peaks above 8,000 meters (26,247 feet)—fell after a climbing accident in the Swiss Alps....

We Need to Revisit All 'Shaken Baby' Convictions
We Need to Revisit All 'Shaken Baby' Convictions
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 25, 2010 8:00 AM CDT

We Need to Revisit All 'Shaken Baby' Convictions

Science is casting doubt on diagnosis

(Newser) - The medical community continues to find evidence that 'shaken baby syndrome' is too often diagnosed. The problem is that the legal community continues to convict and imprison parents and baby-sitters. "Increasingly, it appears that a good number of the people charged with and convicted of homicide may be innocent,...

15 Stories