Kathy E <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Hi All :) I'm not sure if you remember this case or not, it made a bit
of a flurry in the headlines when the public became aware of it. Here's
the verdict and a bit of background:
A Queens, N.Y., doctor has been found guilty of manslaughter in the
shaking death of his 5-month-old daughter. Malcolm Scoon, a 38-year-old
anesthesiologist, could face up to 15 years in prison for shaking his
daughter Mariah so hard that she suffered hemorrhaging in her brain, her
eyes and under her arms.
Scoon sat stonefaced in Queens state Supreme Court today as the
jury's verdict was read. Outside the courtroom his attorney, Michael
Dowd, said, ``I am utterly dumbfounded.''
The doctor had maintained that the injuries Mariah sustained were the
result of his attempts to revive her when he found her gasping for
breath.
But the jury accepted prosecutors' arguments that bleeding around
the brain and eyes, and a hemmorhage under Mariah's right arm were
classic symptoms of ``Shaken Baby Syndrome.''
The syndrome occurs when a baby is throttled in a whiplash-like
manner so that its brain smashes against the skull.
The family's pediatrician testified that although Mariah was born
prematurely, she was in good health when she was released from the
hospital at the age of 2 months, and she was in good health just before
the February 1996 day when she was rushed to Long Island Jewish Hospital
with traumatic brain injuries.
Her case made headlines when Scoon and his wife pleaded for the girl
to be kept on life support, and Cardinal John O'Connor intervened to
have her transfered to St. Vincent's Medical Center. Mariah died several
weeks later.
Prosecutors said that as a doctor, Scoon knew the consequences of
shaking a baby, and suggested that there may have been more than one
incident, noting that the autopsy revealed old blood and newer blood
around the brain.
--
Kathy E
"I can only please one person a day, today is NOT your day, and tomorrow
isn't looking too good for you either"
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