MATTOON, Ill. (WAND) - A day care worker who previously worked as an Illinois State Police trooper and Mattoon Police officer has been granted a new trial after she was convicted of shaking a baby in her care.
Carmen M. Petak was found guilty of aggravated battery for allegedly shaking a 6-month-old baby boy who was in her care in January 2020.
Officers said police responded on Jan. 23, 2020 to Sarah Bush Lincoln Medical Center, where a child had possibly been shaken. The child had a brain bleed, but no other signs of trauma suggesting he might have been dropped. Police said he had nausea, was lethargic and had other injuries indicative of being shaken.
A police investigation led to interviews with Petak, along with the child's parents and family members. On Feb. 4, authorities said Petak admitted in a second interview to causing the trauma that led to the child's brain bleed.
Police released her from custody as a state's attorney's review was pending, but a warrant was issued for her arrest on Feb. 7, 2020. Petak turned herself in.
On July 6, 2022, a jury found her guilty on one count of aggravated battery that occurred on Jan. 23, 2020. They found her not guilty on a count of aggravated battery that had allegedly occurred on Jan. 14, 2020.
Petak was granted a new trial and had her sentence vacated after appealing her conviction, arguing that her trial counsel was ineffective for waiving her right to an evidentiary hearing on the issue of whether her statements should be suppressed.
She argued the trial court erred in striking a portion of her testimony when her counsel objected to the State’s request to call a rebuttal witness that was not included on its witness list and by denying her trial counsel’s request for a Frye hearing on the issue of whether a finding of retinal hemorrhage was a sufficient basis to diagnose shaken baby syndrome.
A new trial date has not yet been set.
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