Shook Baby Out of Panic, Sitter Says at Murder Trial

A Canyon Country woman charged with murder in the death of a child she was caring for testified Thursday that she panicked when the baby began to cry and shook him to make him stop, not believing her actions would hurt him.

At the same time Thursday, Vicky Maas, 28, dropped the insanity portion of her plea, but continued to plead not guilty to charges that she murdered 6-month-old David Allen Duncan and endangered the lives of two other infants in her care.

She withdrew her insanity plea because it was no longer a viable defense, Maas’ attorney, Larry Layton, told the court. He refused to elaborate.

Maas testified that she did not tell the parents of David Duncan about the Jan. 7 shaking because she did not think she had injured the infant. Medical authorities later said the shaking caused the death.

“The shaking that occurred on Wednesday didn’t hurt David as far as I knew at that time,” Maas told the court.

She testified that David had begun crying hysterically, turning a reddish-blue color, and that she did not know how to make him stop crying.

“I panicked,” she testified. “I didn’t know how to react, I didn’t know what else to do, so I shook him gently three to four times.”

Maas testified in a calm, unemotional manner, gesturing in a slow, shaking motion when she described the incident.

Maas is charged with the murder of the Duncan baby, who died in Valley Presbyterian Hospital on Jan. 8, and with endangering the lives of Nicholas McNerney, a 7-month-old infant who suffered a broken leg in June, 1987, and Travis Hoyt, a 6-month-old baby who received bruises on his ear and head in August, 1987.

Maas began caring for David only three days before his death, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Pamela Davis-Springer.

Maas had told sheriffs’ deputies that about 7:15 a.m. on Jan. 7, David was playing on her living room floor when he slumped over and stopped breathing.

She ran to a neighbor’s house and asked him to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation, then called paramedics, Layton said.

Maas will again take the witness stand when the trial, which began Nov. 17, resumes on Monday in San Fernando Superior Court.