Hearing Delayed in Child-Shaking Case
A preliminary hearing for a Simi Valley child-care operator accused of shaking a 1-year-old boy so hard that he suffered brain damage and nearly died was postponed Monday.
The hearing was rescheduled for April 6.
Margaret Mary Major, 48, was arrested and accused of child abuse in the Sept. 24 incident.
The boy’s head injury was so severe that a neurosurgeon at Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles, where the child was airlifted, “likened it to that of a child who had fallen out of a second-story window and landed on the driveway below,” according to a police document.
Major’s child-care license was revoked Oct. 2 after the state Department of Social Services alleged she either caused or permitted an injury so serious that the boy suffered a stroke.
Major surrendered to authorities in early January, a week after the Simi Valley Police Department issued a warrant for her arrest.
In late December, the Ventura County district attorney’s office filed a single count of felony corporal injury to a child against Major, with a special allegation that she inflicted great bodily harm upon the boy.
She faces up to 11 years in prison if convicted.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
