Judge denies new trial motion in day care murder case

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) - A judge has denied a motion for a new trial by a suburban Chicago woman who was convicted in the 2009 death of a toddler in her care.

The Chicago Sun-Times (http://bit.ly/2cGBFi7 ) reports that Lake County Judge Daniel Shanes on Friday rejected the argument from Melissa Calusinski's attorneys that new X-rays reveal that 16-month-old Benjamin Kingan of Deerfield didn't die from a skull fracture caused by Calusinski but from a prior injury.

Shanes instead found that he saw no evidence there was ever a set of "new" X-rays and without such evidence, Calusinski's attorneys case "falls apart like a house of cards."

Shanes presided at Calusinski's 2011 trial and sentenced her to 31 years in prison.

Calusinki's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, said Lake County judges "never admit they're wrong."

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Information from: Chicago Sun-Times, http://chicago.suntimes.com/