Prosecutor describes infant’s brain injuries

SALEM – Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall choked up as she described to a superior court jury the traumatic brain injuries of a Lynn 2-month-old, allegedly caused by being violently shaken by her father, Jose Aquino.”Her brain was so shocked by the assault that it continued to bruise, swell and die off,” MacDougall said during her opening statement this morning in Salem Superior Court.Aquino, 26, is on trial for two counts of assault and battery on a child causing serious bodily injury, while the mother of the infant, Maely Quinones, 25, is charged with child endangerment and recklessly permitting an assault and battery on a child, causing serious bodily injury.Aquino’s attorney, John Haggerty, told jurors in a brief opening that the case was a result of “a rush to judgment” on the part of doctors and investigators, but did not offer another theory as to how the infant was injured.Read the complete story in Wednesday’s Daily Item.