Judge set to rule in shaken-baby case

Attorneys said Tuesday a new Palatine father never shook and seriously injured his infant son in September 2008.

Prosecutors proclaimed he did, causing life-threatening injuries that resulted in emergency surgery and a monthlong hospital stay.

During closing arguments Tuesday in Rolling Meadows, defense attorney Lawrence Lykowski lambasted police for not preserving notes from their interview with Brian Kalinowski, 33, charged with aggravated battery of his then 3-month-old son. The infant fully recovered. He and his twin brother have been living with relatives since the incident.

"To call it poor documentation would be an understatement. It was not documented at all," said Lykowski who questioned why police destroyed notes of a defendant supposedly admitting to having caused a life-threatening injury.

Police detectives claimed Kalinowski told them he shook his son 10 to 15 times with force of about seven on a scale of 1 to 10, said Lykowski. Kalinowski, who took the stand in his own defense in his bench trial before Cook County Circuit Court Judge James Etchingham, denied shaking his son and denied making such statements

In rebuttal, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Mike Clarke referenced the testimony of the baby's neurosurgeon and ophthalmologist who testified the acute subdural hemorrhage and retinal hemorrhage the infant sustained were consistent with abusive head trauma also known as shaken baby syndrome.

Clarke rejected testimony from defense expert, forensic pathologist Dr. Shaku Teas who suggested infection, disease, accidental trauma or stroke may have caused the condition or the child may have suffered from a chronic subdural hemorrhage - possibly sustained during birth.

Dismissing shaken baby syndrome as a cause, Teas cited biomechanical studies indicating "shaking alone won't cause a subdural hemorrhage. There has to be impact."

Challenging her testimony, Clarke referenced medical reports that noted bruises to the baby's head as evidence of impact. He summed up Teas testimony in two words: "bull-oney."

"For $6,000 (the amount the defense paid Teas for her evaluations, reports and testimony), she'll say it wasn't shaken baby syndrome," he said. "She doesn't believe in it."

Etchingham said he would announce his finding Wednesday afternoon.