Jurors Begin Deliberations in Day-Care Provider’s Abuse Trial

A Simi Valley day-care provider lost her cool over a fussy baby two years ago and violently shook the 11-month-old, causing devastating injuries that warrant a child-abuse conviction, a prosecutor argued Tuesday, as the case against Margaret Major came to a close.

“This is the type of crime, ladies and gentlemen, that occurs behind closed doors,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. John Blair, urging jurors in his closing argument to look at medical evidence that suggests the baby was severely shaken.

“Jack [Read] was injured at the day-care center, and it was done with a tremendous amount of force,” Blair said. “It was done by the defendant.”

But defense attorney Richard Hutton told jurors the prosecution’s case against his client is based entirely on “speculation and guesswork.”

Hutton said there is no clear-cut evidence that proves Major, 49, shook the child on Sept. 24, 1997.

“No one saw our client do anything wrong,” he said. “No one saw Margaret Major violently and vigorously shake Jack Read to within an inch of his life.”

As the lawyer spoke, Major listened intently from her seat behind the defense table. She was dressed primly in a white cardigan sweater, a long skirt and pearls. Her family and friends sat behind her.

Closing arguments in the weeklong trial wrapped up about 3 p.m. Tuesday, and the jury began deliberations.

A child-care provider for 18 years, Major is charged with one count of felony child abuse and an allegation she inflicted great bodily injury to the boy. If convicted, she could face up to 11 years in prison.

Major told police that the toddler, who had been in her care just three days, let out a scream while she was changing his diaper, then went limp in her arms. Major said she called 911 and the child was rushed by ambulance to Simi Valley Hospital.

Jack was later airlifted to Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles, where he was treated for severe head injuries. Now 2 1/2, the boy is permanently brain-damaged.

In his closing remarks, Hutton said the prosecution’s case against Major does not make sense.

He argued a veteran child-care provider such as his client would not lose her temper with a screaming baby, as the prosecutor suggested.

Hutton told jurors the entire case comes down to “a battle between medical experts” since there were no witnesses to the alleged shaking.

During Major’s trial in Ventura County Superior Court, which began May 14, doctors who treated Jack offered differing testimony on what caused his injuries.

A neurologist who examined the boy at Childrens Hospital told the jury the child was shaken violently. Two doctors who specialize in cases of shaken-baby syndrome testified, offering the same diagnosis.

They were all called by the prosecution.

But the Simi Valley Hospital emergency room doctor, who was called by the defense, testified Jack’s head trauma was caused by a slip-and-fall accident at home in which he struck his head on a hardwood floor the night before he was hospitalized.

Another doctor, who still treats the child, told jurors Friday he believed Jack’s injuries were possibly the result of a massive stroke.

In his closing summation, Hutton urged the jury to believe the defense doctors, who he described as the medical experts who treated the child.

But Blair asserted that the prosecution’s doctors are more credible. He said the defense experts were not familiar with the signs of shaken-baby syndrome, and he argued that Jack’s fall at home could not have triggered such severe head injuries.

“There was nothing wrong with Jack Read,” Blair argued, “until the defendant shook him.”