Daycare operator convicted in 6-month-old baby’s death
Posted May 13, 2019 3:57 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WOBURN, Mass. — A Massachusetts woman has been convicted of second-degree murder in the death of an infant in her care.
Pallavi Macharla was convicted Monday after about eight hours of jury deliberations over two days.
Prosecutors said the 44-year-old Macharla shook 6-month old Ridhima Dhekane in March 2014 so violently her brain bled. Macharla was a physician in her native India who ran a daycare out of her Burlington home.
The defence said the baby vomited and became unresponsive after eating applesauce. Macharla testified in her own defence to describe how she heard the baby gurgle and saw her eyes close.
Prosecutors say Macharla changed her story and as a trained doctor, should have promptly called 911 instead of first calling the baby’s mother. The baby died at a hospital days later.
The Associated Press
