It’s a parent’s worst nightmare. 

Your infant child has a health crisis that is taking a turn for the worse. You’re surrounded by caring medical staff that are doing everything they can to save your child’s life, but it is not to be — all that care and support suddenly change when they decide you had a hand in your child’s death. 

You are charged with open murder and the very real possibility of spending every single day of the rest of your life in prison.

This nightmare scenario resonated in Las Vegas in a big way recently, but first a brief bit of background. 

Ever  since the infamous case of Louise Woodward, the British au pair who was sentenced to life in prison in the death of an infant but later freed upon appeal, mothers across the country have been accused, tried and convicted in “shaken baby syndrome” cases. Some have spent years in prison for deaths of babies in which there is now growing doubt that a crime even occurred. 

The issue rose to prominence with a recent Southern Nevada case, which also drew national attention, involving Kristina Kerlus, a 32-year-old Las Vegas mother. 

Kerlus had her world turned upside down when she was charged with murder and child abuse in August 2019 in the death of her 2-month-old son, Jocai Davis.

Although Kerlus was ultimately cleared of all charges in December 2022, she came close to being convicted. She was separated from her children with the threat of a life sentence hanging over her head before junk science was eclipsed by the efforts of her legal team and her medical team, who ultimately determined that her son died due to sickle cell anemia. 

Nine months after Jocai died at University Medical Center in Las Vegas on Oct. 7, 2018, the Clark County Coroner’s Office ruled the death a homicide, citing blunt force head and neck trauma. Kerlus faced the possibility of losing custody of her kids and spending much of the rest of her life in prison.

“Kristina, a loving mother to Jocai and her three other children, was wrongfully accused,” said her attorney, Ryan Helmick of The Defense Firm. “Jocai did not die from shaken baby syndrome, as was originally suspected, but instead he tragically died as a result of sickle cell anemia. Unfortunately, medical examiners did not consider the possibility of sickle cell anemia, though that is precisely what took young Jocai’s life.”

The case attracted national attention thanks in part to the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal organization dedicated to exonerating people who have been wrongly convicted and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent injustice. Jason Flom, a founding board member of the Innocence Project, helped bring attention to the case through an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. The case was also featured on a recent episode of the A&E true crime series “Accused: Guilty or Innocent?”

Shaken baby syndrome, which some in the medical profession prefer to call “abusive head trauma,” is defined by a collection of symptoms known as “the triad” — brain swelling, bleeding on the surface of the brain, and bleeding behind the eyes. If those three symptoms are found, the chances are that the baby died of shaken baby syndrome, according to conventional medical wisdom. 

Yet according to a report by NPR, one key witness for the prosecution in the Woodward trial later asserted — as more knowledge of the syndrome came to light — that he would not give the same testimony if the trial was taking place today. 

Patrick Barnes, a pediatric radiologist at Stanford University, claimed his statement that his testimony would be different today was based on advances in MRI brain scanning technology, which he referred to as part of a “revolution” in the medical understanding of head injuries in the years following the Woodward case. 

“We started realizing there were a number of medical conditions that can affect a baby’s brain and look like the findings that we used to attribute to shaken baby syndrome or child abuse,” Barnes told NPR.

If it sounds like a group of defense attorneys came together to come up with an idea just to get a bunch of women out of prison, you should know this: Norman Guthkelch, the pediatric neurosurgeon who developed the theory of shaken baby syndrome, has publicly expressed concern regarding how the diagnosis is used in legal matters.

In a segment of NPR’s report, titled “Rethinking Shaken Baby Syndrome,” Guthkelch said he worries that the diagnosis is too often applied by medical examiners without considering other possible causes for a baby’s death. There could be any number of reasons that this mix of deadly conditions could potentially present themselves, according to Guthkelch. 

“They were using science that was not real science, that had never been proven, just theories, assumptions and accusations,” Kristina Kerlus said. “It’s the easy route for them to take. … Before charges were ever filed, a nurse in the hospital pulled me aside and said, ‘I know you guys didn’t hurt the baby, but this is what’s happening, and you need to speak to a lawyer.’ I was like, ‘What?’ I didn’t know that was what was happening until my conversation with her, and that was when I realized: They’re coming for us. They’re not going to try to figure out what happened to him. They’re trying to build a case on us.” 

Kerlus added: “People don’t know the junk science behind shaken baby syndrome. People don’t know that it has never been proven. It’s just crazy how so many people have been convicted and are incarcerated due to shaken baby syndrome, and there is just no proof, there is no science behind it.”

Helmick credited the Clark County District Attorney’s Office for their willingness to take a second look at the case.

“Thanks to the Clark County District Attorney’s Office, a tremendous injustice was averted,” Helmick said. “None of this should have happened, but thankfully in the end justice prevailed. This woman who has suffered so greatly due to the loss of her son can begin to put the pieces of her life back together again. No one can ever accuse her of being anything other than a responsible mother who cares for her kids.” 

Mark Fierro began his career as a reporter/anchor at KLAS-TV, the CBS television station in Las Vegas. He worked at the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. He served as communications consultant on IPO road shows on Wall Street. He provided litigation support for the Michael Jackson death trial. He is president of Fierro Communications, Inc., which conducts mock juries and focus groups in addition to public relations and marketing. Fierro is the author of several books including “Road Rage: The Senseless Murder of Tammy Meyers.” He has made numerous appearances on national TV news programs.

Jeff Haney serves as Executive Vice President of Operations for Fierro Communications, where he works on developing and directing all media, marketing, research, consulting and public relations strategies for Fierro Communications’ clients including those in business, government, the legal field and cutting-edge high technology.