Louise Woodward
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Louise Woodward (born 28 February, 1978) was a British au pair implicated in the baby-shaking death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen, and was convicted by a Cambridge, Massachusetts, jury of second degree murder on October 30, 1997. The 12 person jury unanimously found that Woodward had shaken the baby and forcefully slammed his head against a hard object, out of frustration that the baby would not stop crying. The next day, she was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 15 years. The sentencing judge on November 10 reduced the conviction to involuntary manslaughter; she was sentenced to time served and freed. On appeal, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the judgment of the sentencing judge by a split vote of 4-3.
Baby Eappen died on February 10, 1997 in Cambridge from a fractured skull, six days after being admitted to hospital and falling into a coma. The boy was also found to have a fractured wrist, an unnoticed injury from a month earlier.
In her statement to the police she said she "popped the baby on the bed". There was a dispute in her case over the use of the word "popped". In British English this phrase meant "placed", and Woodward claimed she was trying to say she "placed the baby on the bed". Her defense lawyers argued to the jury that the word "popped" doesn't carry the same meaning in American English. In addition to "popping" him on the bed, however, Woodward also told the police that she had dropped him on the floor at one point.
Media coverage of the case was intense. Prior to trial the defense attempted to move the trial to another city, arguing that a local jury would be too biased to render a fair verdict. After reviewing the arguments, the judge disagreed and denied the defense motion.
Courts consistently reject the use of polygraph examinations in criminal trials because they are too unreliable. Nonetheless, prior to the trial on May 7, 1997, Woodward decided to have a polygraph examination conducted on her by Dr. David C. Raskin, a polygraph examiner hired by her own lawyers. During the course of this examination Woodward was asked relevant questions about whether she caused injury to Matthew Eappen while he was in her care on February 4, 1997. Woodward responded negatively to having caused any injuries to Matthew Eappen, and Dr. Raskin concluded that her answers to these questions were truthful to a confidence level of 95 percent. Dr. Raskin's results were evaluated by Dr. Charles Honts, another Polygrapher hired by Woodward's defense lawyers, who also claimed that Woodward had answered truthfully when responding to relevant questions about whether she had injured Matthew. None of the results of these examinations by Woodward's experts were admissible in court, however.
The evidence presented in the televised trial was highly contentious. The prosecution presented eight physicians involved in Matthew Eappen's care, including a neurosurgeon, an opthamologist, a radiologist, two pathologists and an expert in child abuse, who testified to their belief that his injuries had occurred as a result of violent shaking and from his head impacting with a hard surface. The defense presented expert medical testimony that the infant's injury may have occurred three weeks before the date of death. Woodward, however, admitted under cross-examination on the stand that she never noticed any slight bumps, marks or any unusual behavior by the baby at any time prior to the night he was hospitalized.
Woodward had used a fake ID to visit a nightclub because she was under 21. This was used as evidence in court against her character, implying that she was not somebody to be trusted.
In addition, the prosecution presented evidence that Woodward had been an irresponsible nanny to the Eappans' children. She often stayed up so late to attend parties with friends that she had trouble getting up the next morning to get the children ready for breakfast and school. Only days before the baby was hospitalized, the baby's parents told Woodward that she was on the verge of being fired if she did not correct her behavior. Despite this, Woodward claimed to the jury that she was not upset at the parents around the time the alleged injury occurred.
The prosecution also presented evidence of a witness, Kathleen Sorabella, who testified that she was once standing next to Woodward waiting in line to see the musical "Rent". The two began chatting and Woodward told Sorabella that she disliked her job as a nanny, that the baby's parents were demanding and controlled what time she came home at night, and that their children were spoiled and cranky. Woodward told Sorabella that the baby was a "brat". Woodward's own best friend in Boston and a fellow English au pair, Ruhana Augustin, also testified on behalf of the prosecution, telling the jury that Woodward had complained to her about the Eappans' curfew and that she was annoyed by how much the baby cried. On the day of the alleged shaking, Augustin said that Woodward had admitted to "gently shaking" the baby.
As part of her defense strategy, Woodward requested that the jury not be given the option of convicting her of manslaughter, and instead either convict her of murder or find her not guilty. The jury returned a verdict of murder in the second degree, carrying a sentence of life in prison. Judge Hiller Zobel, however, bypassed the jury's conviction to reduce the conviction to that of manslaughter.
When her sentence was reduced to 279 days (exactly the time she had already spent in prison), Assistant District Attorney Gerald Leone appealed the judge's decision to the state Supreme Court. In a close, 4-3 split decision the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts confirmed the reduced conviction and sentence June 16, 1998. Woodward also asked the Supreme Court to throw out her manslaughter conviction. The Court rejected her arguments, however, and affirmed the guilty verdict by a 7-0 vote. Woodward then returned to Britain.
On returning home Woodward gave a press conference. It was broadcast live in Britain and in Boston. She said that she would be giving an interview to the BBC for no money and wanted to return to her life. The interview was conducted by Martin Bashir (who also famously interviewed Michael Jackson) in a special edition of the flagship BBC show, Panorama. Many critics believed she was mimicking the style of the late Diana, Princess of Wales. Nevertheless, she maintained her innocence in the interview.
Meanwhile in America, the parents of the late Matthew Eappen filed another lawsuit against her, this time in civil courts. Woodward chose not to defend the lawsuit, claiming she had no money to do so, and as a result, lost the civil case. However, Woodward could not have won the lawsuit in any event, because she had already been convicted by a unanimous jury of killing Matthew in her criminal trial.
After the fuss died down, Woodward attended a university in London. She received a law degree and passed her exams so she could practice law in Britain. She became a trainee solicitor working in Greater Manchester, for the firm of North Ainley Halliwell. However, in March 2005 she left the law to become a dance teacher.
Woodward has campaigned against televised trials in the United Kingdom.