WHAT HAPPENED TO CHRISTOPHER An American Family's Story of Shaken Baby Syndrome

hardback. With Foreword by M. Joan McDermott. A tragedy and a murder trial placed the author in an ideal position to write this wrenching exploration of the havoc wreaked on a family by Shaken Baby Syndrome. As an alternate juror in a 1995 trial in Murphysboro, Illinois, she observed a case that is all too common: a live-in boyfriend fatally shook a 19-month old baby. The author witnessed the court proceedings firsthand, came to know the families of the toddler intimately, and augmented her observations and interviews though research into Shaken Baby Syndrome. The result is an agonisingly human tale supported by the evidence of science, sociology, and criminology. Gary Lynn Gould, who was convicted of and imprisoned for killing Christopher, did not answer the author's requests for interviews. She provides a juror's insight into the trial. She discusses the red herrings floated by the defence attorney - long-term undiagnosed skull fractures and the "accumulated fatal injury over time" - and presents medical testimony that proves these theories absurd, thus alerting all of us to arguments commonly used by the defence. By showing what happened to Christopher Attig and by presenting the accumulated findings relative to Shaken Baby Syndrome, she seeks through education to help prevent further deaths like Christopher's. with Resources on Shaken Baby syndrome and Child Abuse.. 168pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F. in F. dw.