A mother accused of repeatedly shaking her 9-month-old son, resulting in his death, must stand trial on first-degree murder and assault charges, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Guadalupe O’Campos, 32, is charged in the September 2013 death of Kevin Machado.
On Sept. 5, 2013, physicians at Rady Children’s Hospital alerted police to suspicious head injuries suffered by the baby. He died later that night.
San Diego police Detective Donna Eastep testified that the child’s father told her that he saw the defendant shaking the baby the day he died.
Three days earlier, the baby fell and was wedged between the bed and the closet, the father told the detective.
Eastep said Alexis Macado told her that he wanted to take his son to see a doctor, but the defendant didn’t want to, saying authorities might think she did something wrong.
The defendant told the detective that the baby rolled off the bed on Sept. 2, 2013. But when confronted with the father’s account, O’Campos said she might have grabbed the baby and shaken him too hard, according to Eastep.
Deputy District Attorney Nicole Rooney said the baby was shaken so hard he had a detached retina in his eye.
The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office later classified the baby’s death as a homicide, and last Sept. 25, police took O’Campos into custody at her home in the 1600 block of South 43rd Street.
Judge Sharon Majors-Lewis ruled that enough evidence was presented at Tuesday’s preliminary hearing for O’Campos to proceed to trial.
The defendant, who faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted, will be back in court Jan. 28 for arraignment.
— City News Service
