Today’s New York Times front section tells the story of an immigrant Queens couple in custody on Riker’s Island for four years now, waiting for trial in the 2007 death of their infant daughter, diagnosed as a shaking victim. Their former landlady is now raising their surviving daughter, and their community has rallied around them.
Read the article, by Jeffrey E. Singer and Corey Kilgannon.
The posted comments are encouraging: Although many writers are adamant that the parents are guilty, others are skeptical. One responder mentions the ProPublica piece from June, another Friday’s Canadian broadcasts.
Meanwhile, 500 miles southeast, prosecutors in Orange County, North Carolina, have announced that they will not retry child-care provider Cheryl Alston, who was found innocent on two out of three counts in a highly emotional trial this past fall. I heard the news from one of the experts who testified in her defense: I haven’t found anything in the press about the decision to drop the third charge, but you can read about the case in this story , published after the trial.
On Shaken Baby 