
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 15, 1994                   TAG: 9410170060
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LEESBURG                                LENGTH: Short

SHAKEN BABY'S DEATH CASE SENT TO GRAND JURY

The case of a young Dutch woman accused of causing a baby's death by fiercely shaking him will be turned over to a grand jury, a judge ruled Friday.

Loudoun County Domestic Relations Judge Jean H. Clements rejected a request by an attorney for Anna-Corina Peeze to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against her.

``I'm not at all surprised,'' said Rodney G. Leffler, Peeze's lawyer. ``All the judge had to do was determine probable cause.''

Peeze, 19, an au pair from Amsterdam, was tending 8-week-old Brenton Devonshire on Aug. 2 when the child suffered severe brain injuries. The boy died four days later.

The Loudoun County grand jury will consider the case Dec. 12.

The infant's parents, Stephen and Sharon Devonshire, found their son clammy and unresponsive when they returned home from work Aug. 2. The boy had been under Peeze's care all day. Peeze had been with the family for about a week.

Doctors who attended the boy quickly diagnosed him as suffering from shaken baby syndrome. Dr. Keith Dockery, who examined Brenton at Fairfax Hospital, testified at a hearing Wednesday that electronic scans of the infant's brain showed it was covered with bruises. The lining of one of the baby's eye was also bleeding.

``This was extreme, out-of-control violence. It can't happen from a fall or slight shaking,'' Dockery testified.

by CNB