Commonwealth v. Epps

The defendant was convicted by a Superior Court jury of assault and battery on a child causing substantial bodily injury, in violation of G. L. c. 265, § 13J (&). The prosecution contended that the defendant violently shook the two year old child in his care based on medical testimony that the child was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, and scans of her brain that showed retinal hemorrhages, subdural hematoma, and brain swel-ing, the three symptoms known as “the triad” associated with shaken baby syndrome. The defendant, when interviewed by the police, denied having injured the child and…