A Lake County judge on Friday did not rule on a state motion that aims to prevent an imprisoned former day care worker from getting a new trial in the 2009 death of a Deerfield toddler.
Instead, Judge Daniel Shanes gave Melissa Calusinski’s defense team 60 days to respond to the state’s motion. Shanes then set a new court date for March 11 and gave no indication a ruling would be made that day.
Attorneys for Calusinski, 29, of Carpentersville, filed a motion this summer seeking to have her murder conviction thrown out, contending that evidence discovered since her trial indicates that the child — 16-month-old Benjamin Kingan — died from pre-existing head injuries, not from Calusinski slamming him to the floor at a Lincolnshire day care center, as prosecutors alleged.
Calusinski’s lawyers have also alleged that newly discovered X-rays give a clearer view than those shown at trial and would have helped her case.
Lake County prosecutors responded to those claims in a motion filed last week that argues that Calusinski’s lawyers are repackaging evidence jurors heard at trial. The purportedly new X-rays, prosecutors wrote, are only brightened versions of the ones the defense had before trial.
Calusinski is serving a 31-year prison sentence.
baiduhai reporter Dan Hinkel contributed.
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