AUBURN — A nanny accused of shaking a 15-month-old girl to death last year in Roseville gave investigators four versions of how the child sustained her injuries, a prosecutor told a Placer County jury Tuesday.
Veronica Martinez Salcedo, who is charged with murder and willful cruelty to a child causing death or injury, told police she heard a noise May 11, 2006, and found the child, Hannah Rose Juceam, unresponsive on the floor, Deputy District Attorney Karin Bjork said.
Bjork said Martinez Salcedo, 36, later gave versions that included a bar stool falling on Hannah; the child being shaken to stop crying; and the baby falling on the floor while being rocked.
Hannah was taken off life support two days later, after doctors determined that she was brain dead, Bjork said.
Martinez Salcedo’s attorney, Mary Beth Acton, told the jury that her client shook the baby lightly, but only after she heard a “thud” in another room and found the child on the floor crying. By then, however, Hannah’s eyes were rolling back into her head, Acton said.
– Art Campos
Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Story appeared in the METRO section, Page B2 of the Sacramento Bee
