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The case against a Utah woman accused of causing the 2011 shaking death of a 4-month-old boy she was babysitting has been dismissed because the defendant has died.
Jennifer Duran Martinez, 39, of Murray, was charged in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony murder for death of Kaysen Calhoun in September 2011.
Martinez died on Jan. 10 at Castle View Hospital in Price, according to her obituary. A court document moving to dismiss the case states that Martinez, who was out on bail at the time, she died from natural causes.
A trial had been set for April.
According to testimony at an August 2012 preliminary hearing, Martinez and the infant's mother, Hailey Calhoun, were neighbors at a Murray apartment complex and became friends about the time Kaysen was born.
Calhoun testified that on the afternoon of Sept. 22, 2011, she had to go pick up her daughters from their grandparents' home and Martinez offered to watch Kaysen.
She left Kaysen, who had been sick and had vomited in the car that week, with Martinez about 4 p.m.
About an hour later, Martinez realized something was wrong with the boy and tried to call the mother five times without success. She then called 911.
A police officer and paramedics arrived to find Martinez distraught and trying to resuscitate Kaysen, according to the testimony from Murray police officer Kevin Johnston. Kaysen was rushed to the hospital, where doctors found he was brain dead.
That night, Martinez told Murray police detective Nathan Pentico that she heard the infant spitting up, went to check on him and saw he was spitting up blood, Pentico testified.
Calhoun agreed to remove Kaysen from life support two days later.
A medical examiner and a child abuse specialist had told Pentico the infant died from someone shaking him. The doctors testified in court that the infant suffered fractured ribs and head trauma.
Pentico questioned Martinez again on Sept. 26, 2011. After Pentico relayed what the doctors had said, Martinez admitted to shaking the boy, Pentico testified.
But defense attorney Andrea Garland pointed to an initial report from a treating physician who said Kaysen's trauma happened 10 to 12 hours before his hospital admission — before Martinez was babysitting him — based on the color of the boy's blood.
When Garland asked Pentico why he did not tell Martinez about the 10 to 12 hours, he said he thought the treating physician was wrong. The medical examiner and the specialist testified that an infant would be unresponsive or unconscious within minutes of being shaken, and Pentico said he worked with that assessment.
Calhoun testified that Kaysen was conscious and alert when she left him in Martinez's arms that afternoon.