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Guilty or innocent: Nanny case in jurors' hands

Woodward October 28, 1997
Web posted at: 1:28 p.m. EST (1828 GMT)

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (CNN) -- The jury Tuesday began deliberating the fate of au pair Louise Woodward after hearing a defense attorney portray her as a truthful teen, and a prosecutor describe her in closing arguments as a "little aspiring actress."

Woodward, 19, is charged with murdering 8-month-old Matthew Eappen, purportedly in frustration over the child's fussing and the demands of her job.

Following closing arguments, Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Hiller Zobel charged the jury, telling them their job was to determine beyond a reasonable doubt that Woodward's acts on February 4 killed Eappen.

In his final arguments, defense attorney Barry Scheck argued that the child died from a previous injury, not in a brutal, premeditated killing.

"Have they proven that beyond a reasonable doubt? Not even close," Scheck said.

Matthew Eappen

Prosecutor Gerard Leone Jr. described Woodward as a "little aspiring actress" who abused Eappen and killed him. To attribute the baby's death to anything other than abuse "defies common sense," he said.

"To believe otherwise, you would need to believe that little falls kill little kids. To believe otherwise, you would need to believe that some mystery accident weeks before, and some mystery trigger causes little kids' heads to explode and they die. And common sense tells you, ladies and gentlemen, that doesn't happen," Leone said.

At Woodward's request, jurors will be allowed to consider only a first-degree or second-degree murder conviction and not a lesser charge or manslaughter, Zobel ruled Monday.

Excerpts from the closing arguments:
Defense attorney Barry Scheck
icon 304K/27 sec. AIFF or WAV sound
Prosecutor Gerard Leone Jr.
icon 267K/24 sec. AIFF or WAV sound

Based on that, jurors would have to acquit Woodward if they believe she is guilty only of manslaughter, defined as a reckless action that shows disregard for human life.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Woodward would face life in prison without the possibility of parole. She would become eligible for parole in 15 years if convicted of second-degree murder.

Prosecutors say Woodward frustrated

Sunil and Deborah Eappen, both doctors, hired Woodward to baby-sit their sons in November 1996. The case has attracted the attention of many couples who rely on hired help to care for their children.

Prosecutors maintain Woodward mistreated the child because she was frustrated and angry with the baby's parents, who had just imposed a curfew to curb her frequent late nights out.

On February 4, they say, she violently shook, then slammed the boy's head against a hard surface, causing the massive brain damage that led to his death five days later at Boston's Children's Hospital.

Contradictory testimony

Police testified that Woodward told them she had roughly bathed Matthew, dropped him on a ceramic tile floor, then tossed him onto a bed shortly before calling emergency workers to the house.

Woodward testified she told police she "popped" the baby onto the bed after the bath, explaining that was an English way of saying she had laid him on the bed.

"Popped and laid mean the same thing, at least to me," she said.

She denied telling police she was rough with Matthew; rather, she said that in the rush to bathe him and get him into bed, she may not have been "as gentle as I could have been."

"She told the whole truth, nothing but the truth," said defense attorney Andrew Good. "If police had listened to her, maybe we wouldn't be here today."

Medical evidence debated

Scheck cited testimony from world-renowned pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who said the infant suffered from serious head injuries that he believed could be as much as three weeks old.

"The hard physical evidence raises much more than a reasonable doubt," Scheck said.

Baden, who testified for the defense at the murder trial of former football star O.J. Simpson, told the jury that scar tissue, bone development and cranial bleeding showed an older wound. Neck and back injuries commonly seen in severely shaken babies were not found, he said.

"No one knows more about pediatric medicine" than Baden, Scheck said in his closing argument. "I cannot tell you exactly what happened; we may never know how this incident occurred. But the only incident in this case was February 4. Was there a violent slam, was there a severe shaking? If it's an old injury -- case closed."

Leone quoted Dr. Joseph Madsen, the Children's Hospital doctor who performed brain surgery on Matthew, who said the baby's injuries had caused his head to swell "like a loaf of bread rising in an oven."

"This was not an old wound," Leone said the doctor told him. "This was fresh."

 
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