Judge allows new evidence in convicted day care worker case
WAUKEGAN, Ill. -- A Lake County judge has ruled that he will allow new testimony in the case of a Chicago-area day care worker who was convicted in a toddler's death.
Melissa Calusinski of Carpentersville is serving a 31-year prison sentence from her 2009 first-degree murder conviction in the death of 16-month-old Benjamin Kingan of Deerfield.
The Chicago Tribune reports that a judge ruled Monday.
"48 Hours" covered the case in the episode, "Blaming Melissa."
Kingan was in Calusinski's care when he died in January 2009. Her attorneys claim new evidence shows the boy died from pre-existing head injuries. Prosecutors dispute that claim and alleged Calusinski slammed the child to the floor at the Lincolnshire day care center.
After a nine-hour interrogation and hours of denials, Calusinski told police she threw the child down in anger.
At trial, her defense attorneys argued that the confession was coerced by investigators. Family members have said that tests show that Calusinski has a low-verbal IQ, meaning that she sometimes has trouble expressing herself and understanding others.
The 29-year-old's attorneys point to a new set of X-rays that they say show the boy didn't have a fresh skull fracture. In a petition filed last year, defense attorney Kathleen Zellner claimed that Calusinski was wrongfully convicted on false medical evidence and that authorities suppressed the X-rays that support her innocence.
Zellner contended that the X-rays would raise doubts that the toddler had suffered a skull fracture on the day he died.
Prosecutors argue that the X-rays are neither new nor significant.