01-26-2015, 01:42 PM
TRIAL UNDERWAY
![[Image: images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQseA7GNHALp4u61FYOYo_...L1L5Itr-Tw]](https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQseA7GNHALp4u61FYOYo_5mIvu1JjlCodHbJrd1YL1L5Itr-Tw)
Jury selection in the trial of 27-year-old Lacey Spears began today.
Spears, who made national headlines after chronicling her son's demise on social media, is charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. The trial, before Judge Robert Neary, is expected to last several weeks.
While investigators have accused Spears of the psychiatric disease Munchausen by proxy — which causes caretakers, typically mothers, to sicken patients, typically their child, in order to gain attention and sympathy — prosecutors are prohibited from mentioning the condition in making their case.
Dr. Jennifer Canter of Maria Fareri Children's Hospital at Westchester Medical Center – the hospital where Spears' son, Garnett - 5, was killed with a fatal dose of salt poured through his stomach tube last January – will testify. "She will fill out how the investigation was completed," Prosecutor Murphy said. "She's the one who reaches out to the police through Child Protective Services."
Canter also will testify that there is "no medical explanation for the high sodium that was reflected in the tests at both Nyack (Hospital) and Westchester Medical Center," Murphy said. "(She) will not give an opinion with respect to her belief this is a case of Munchausen."
Spears' defense team was dealt a blow last week when (Judge) Neary ruled that certain medical records, social media posts detailing Garnett's declining health and online searches found on Spears' laptop, iPhone and iPad were admissible.
Story: http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/we.../22345633/
Jury selection in the trial of 27-year-old Lacey Spears began today.
Spears, who made national headlines after chronicling her son's demise on social media, is charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. The trial, before Judge Robert Neary, is expected to last several weeks.
While investigators have accused Spears of the psychiatric disease Munchausen by proxy — which causes caretakers, typically mothers, to sicken patients, typically their child, in order to gain attention and sympathy — prosecutors are prohibited from mentioning the condition in making their case.
Dr. Jennifer Canter of Maria Fareri Children's Hospital at Westchester Medical Center – the hospital where Spears' son, Garnett - 5, was killed with a fatal dose of salt poured through his stomach tube last January – will testify. "She will fill out how the investigation was completed," Prosecutor Murphy said. "She's the one who reaches out to the police through Child Protective Services."
Canter also will testify that there is "no medical explanation for the high sodium that was reflected in the tests at both Nyack (Hospital) and Westchester Medical Center," Murphy said. "(She) will not give an opinion with respect to her belief this is a case of Munchausen."
Spears' defense team was dealt a blow last week when (Judge) Neary ruled that certain medical records, social media posts detailing Garnett's declining health and online searches found on Spears' laptop, iPhone and iPad were admissible.
Story: http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/we.../22345633/