State v. Hemphill

Facts

D brought his daughter to be examined by her pediatrician. The baby was dead and had been dead for three to four hours. The autopsy revealed swelling of the infant's brain, bleeding into the skull around the brain substance, bruises on the brain and hemorrhage in the lungs. The bruises were on the frontal parts of the brain and the back of the brain. The Dr. testified that he considered such injuries to be severe, and that he believed the cause of death was 'Shaken Baby Syndrome,' which is an injury resulting from the brain being shaken inside of the skull in such a violent or vigorous manner that it tears blood vessels inside the brain and on the surface of the brain, between the brain and its coverings. Such injury typically occurs when an infant's head is shaken violently while being held so that the skull itself is maintained within the person's grasp and the brain is shaken inside the head. He stated that vigorous shaking would be required to produce the sort of injury he observed in his autopsy of the victim. The increased intercranial pressure resulting from the swelling of the brain typically results vomiting, and that he had found evidence that this child had breathed some aspirated gastric material down into her lungs. She was alive when the aspiration occurred, although he could not tell if the baby had aspirated prior or subsequent to being shaken, but that the conditions he observed about the child's brain and lungs were consistent with an intentional violent repeated shaking, and that the child had died as a result of 'Shaken Baby Syndrome.' D admitted to shaking the baby a number of times. D had not mentioned shaking the child in his first statement. At trial, D testified that he did not intentionally injure his daughter and denied shaking her by her head. D was found guilty of second-degree murder and appealed from a judgment imposing a sentence of thirty-five years.

Issues

Rule of Law

Holding and Decision

Legal Analysis

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