Pediatrician testifies teen shook baby
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“There’s no other medical explanation available than shaken baby syndrome, or, abusive head trauma. It’s a pretty safe bet,” said Dr. Christopher Greeley, a pediatrician at Vanderbilt University and director of that institution’s Child Abuse and Neglect program who examined 5-week-old Christian Ramirez shortly after the alleged shaking incident occurred.
Ramirez, 17, is currently facing charges of aggravated child abuse for the severe brain injuries sustained by the 5-week-old allegedly at her hands. The alleged incident is said by prosecutors to have occurred last year when Ramirez, irritated with the baby’s crying, shook him for an undetermined amount of time before throwing him on an air mattress.
The defense contends the injuries in question were instead the result on an accident occurring two days earlier when the baby fell off a couch when in the care of a baby-sitter.
In addition to showing a video tape of a confession from Ramirez, Greeley’s testimony heavily favored the prosecution. When asked by about the likelihood of such severe injuries being sustained by a fall of 18 inches, Greeley replied it was highly unlikely, noting that never has he seen a similar incident or has one, to his knowledge, ever been reported.
Furthermore, Greeley noted, it is highly unlikely a local doctor who examined the baby shortly after the fall occurred would have missed the severity of the injuries and that the injuries would not have taken an extended time to manifest, as the defense maintains.
Dealing another blow to the defense was the decision to allow the jury to view the video tape made of Ramirez’s statement to police investigators in which she admitted shaking her baby and throwing it on a mattress, whereupon he bounced five inches. It was the contention of defense attorney John Edwards the confession should be inadmissible, as he said his client was coerced into implicating herself by unrelenting interrogators.
The video, which was several hours long, first showed her repeatedly denying any wrongdoing. “I didn’t do this to my son, I couldn’t do this to my son,” she said. “I’m not lying to you.”
The investigators questioning her, on the other hand, repeatedly encouraged her to confess, “to level with them and admit her mistake.”
After repeated attempts to do so by investigators, Ramirez finally relented. “I didn’t mean to do it. I was mad because he kept on crying,” she explained.
The trial is set to resume at 9 a.m. today at Warren County Courthouse when the defense is likely to call one or two witnesses of its own.