Jury finds Lynn shaken baby father guilty

SALEM – A Salem Superior Court jury found a Lynn man guilty Monday of abusing his then-2-month-old daughter in 2009, causing permanent brain and vision damage, hours after a judge found the child’s mother innocent due to insufficient evidence.”If the doctors testified that (the infant) was presented with a gunshot wound at the hospital, no one would question that she had been shot, but they couldn’t tell you who shot her,” said Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall during her closing argument. “This is no different. They saw a constellation of injuries that only meant one thing: abusive head trauma.”Jose Aquino, 29, is expected to be sentenced today at 9 a.m. by Judge Howard Whitehead, and faces a maximum penalty of 15 years, according to District Attorney spokesperson Carrie Kimball-Monahan.Just before the trial went to the jury, Whitehead found the child’s mother, Maely Quinones, 25, of Lynn, innocent after defense attorneys argued the prosecution did not present enough evidence for the case against her to go to the jury. She had been charged with assault and battery on a child and reckless endangerment of a child based largely on testimony her mother gave to a grand jury that was later thrown out after she changed her story.MacDougall conceded that without the testimony, there was no evidence to support charges against Quinones.Whitehead also dismissed one of the two counts against Aquino, and Aquino’s attorney, John Haggerty, of Salem, rested immediately following the judge’s ruling. He did not call any witnesses.Quinones’ attorney, John Morris, of Salem, said the mother’s ex-husband forced her to give false testimony because he didn’t like Aquino”She went to police and made a statement, and testified to the grand jury a consistent story,” Morris said. “Then she changed the story to my investigators, and said her ex-husband made her say it.”The woman moved to the Dominican Republic in February, Morris said, and therefore could not testify.”With the mother it would have been a different story,” Morris said.MacDougall originally alleged one or both of the parents shook the infant, Elliany Aquino, at least twice during the time between her birthday on May 22 and July 28, 2009, when she was taken to the hospital and found to have severe bleeding in her brain and behind her eyes. Doctors testified last week that the baby’s injuries could only have been caused by abuse.Haggerty stressed in his closing argument that after determining Elliany was ill, Aquino insisted on taking her to a hospital, rather than the nearby Lynn Community Health, “because he wanted the best treatment for his daughter.”He argued that based on testimony last week by several doctors who treated Elliany, the injuries had to have occurred during a period of time when Aquino was not the sole caregiver of the baby because Quinones had come home from work. He said Quinones could have shaken the child while Aquino took a shower before they left for the hospital.MacDougall urged the jury to “use common sense” to find Aquino guilty.”Maely did this? Then why did Aquino call her home from work? He had already called (someone) to give them a ride to the hospital,” MacDougall said.Haggerty cautioned the jury not to find Aquino guilty simply because someone had to be responsible for the infant’s catastrophic injuries, and Aquino was the only person charged.”It’s not our job to prove who did it. It’s (the prosecution’s) job to prove who did it,” he said.Haggerty declined to comment on the verdict.Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].