CANANDAIGUA, N.Y., July 28 (UPI) -- A New York woman convicted of killing her stepgrandson has asked for a new trial, arguing he might have died because she was given bad CPR instructions.
In a motion filed in Ontario County, a lawyer for Barbara Hershey say the diagnosis that Ethan Hershey, 4 months old, died from shaken baby syndrome may have been faulty, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported. Judge Frederick Reed, who presided over her trial, has scheduled a hearing for September.
Hershey, 69, was sentenced in 2007 to five to 15 years for manslaughter.
J. Michael Chamblee, representing Hershey, said in court papers that her stepson, David Hershey, lied when he testified there had been no signs of health problems in the infant before his death. Chamblee also said that when the boy stopped breathing and Hershey called 911 an operator mistakenly gave her instructions for performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on an adult, not a baby.
At her sentencing, Hershey yelled at David and his wife, Amanda: "Why don't one of you admit that you did it?"
Michael Tantillo, the Ontario County district attorney, said the outburst showed Hershey has a "hair-trigger" temper and Ethan was the victim of it.
