Shaking Killed Baby, Experts Tell Court
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SAN DIEGO — A 13-month-old boy was shaken to death, two experts testified in the trial of a day-care provider.
Christopher Oliver Smith had “huge brain damage,” Dr. Randell Alexander told a Superior Court jury on Thursday.
“You’d have to use really full strength and really shake hard to cause significant injuries,” said Alexander, who is a child abuse expert from Atlanta.
San Diego County Medical Examiner Brian Blackbourne testified that an autopsy concluded that the boy died of “shaken baby syndrome.”
Manjit Kaur Basuta, 43, is charged with assault on a child resulting in death and could face 25 years to life in state prison if convicted.
Prosecutors contend that Basuta, who ran a day-care operation in her home in Del Mar Heights, furiously shook the boy in March when he ignored her call to come for a diaper change.
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