Day-Care Provider Not Guilty of Abuse

A Ventura County jury has acquitted Simi Valley day-care provider Margaret Major of child-abuse charges after two days of deliberations.

Major, 49, was accused of violently shaking an 11-month-old boy in her care on Sept. 24, 1997. The child was hospitalized with severe head injuries and suffered permanent brain damage.

Major told police that Jack Read screamed while she was changing his diaper and then went limp in her arms. She called 911 and the child was rushed by ambulance to Simi Valley Hospital.

Prosecutors charged Major with felony abuse and inflicting great bodily injury after doctors concluded the boy had been shaken almost to death.

But during Major’s weeklong trial in Ventura County Superior Court, the defense called medical experts who said the infant could have been injured in a fall the night before he was hospitalized.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Blair said he was troubled by the jury’s decision, returned Thursday evening.

“We’re very disappointed, but the jury has spoken,” he said.

“She [Major] was very pleased, to put it mildly,” said Glendale-based defense attorney Richard Hutton. He said Major’s 18-year career has been ruined by the prosecution.

“I don’t know if she even wants to get back in the business because it is such a liability,” he said.

Just before the case went to the jury, Major Family Day Care reached a settlement in a civil negligence case filed by the child’s parents last spring.

Under the terms of the agreement, Major’s insurance company will pay more than $2,600 a month to the child during his lifetime after he turns 18. If he dies before age 18, the payments would continue to the family for 10 years. Major’s attorney, John Golden, said his client denies any negligence in caring for the baby.

During Major’s trial, no testimony was offered on the boy’s prognosis. But court documents describe the boy as being at risk for learning disabilities and suffering from “mild cerebral palsy.”

One report said the child has a normal life expectancy, but is at risk of future medical complications.