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Justice sends au pair appeal to top court
December 3, 1997
Woodward during court proceedings Wednesday
Web posted at: 11:00 a.m. EST (1600 GMT)BOSTON (CNN) -- A justice of Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court has ordered that the entire seven-judge court hear the combined appeals in the case of au pair Louise Woodward, possibly in March.
Justice Ruth Abrams, responding to an emergency petition from the prosecution seeking to immediately put Woodward back in prison, ordered on Wednesday that all of Woodward's court records be consolidated to combine appeals filed by both the prosecution and the defense.
The decision means that Woodward will remain free until a hearing before the Massachusetts Judicial Court.
Watch Wednesday's hearing
1 min. 30 sec. VXtreme video
"The probable date for the appeal is March, and after the transcripts are filed a briefing schedule will be set forth in consultation with counsel," said Abrams during the court session, at which Woodward was present.
A jury convicted the 19-year-old British citizen on October 30 of second-degree murder in the shaking death of Matthew Eappen, her host family's 8-month-old son. Nearly two weeks later, Superior Court Judge Hiller B. Zobel reduced the verdict to manslaughter and Woodward was freed after serving 279 days in prison.
Prosecutors argue that Zobel exceeded his authority by composing his own theory to explain the baby's death. They say he made several other errors, including not following state guidelines that recommend a three- to five-year prison term for involuntary manslaughter.
What makes the appeal urgent, prosecutors said last week, is that the case has harmed the image of the courts and "every day this perception is allowed to remain, the damage to the integrity of the criminal justice system, and the jury system in particular, magnifies."
Related stories:
- Prosecution files appeal in au pair case - November 25, 1997
- Mother in au pair case: 'Judge took away justice' - November 16, 1997
- Eappen supporters decry au pair's 'folk hero status' - November 15, 1997
- The Au Pair Trial - November 12, 1997
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