Bartlett woman loses bid for new shaken baby trial
It’s back to prison for Pamela Jacobazzi.
The former day care provider convicted of fatally shaking a 10-month-old boy left in her care was denied a new murder trial Friday in DuPage County court.
Attorneys for the 58-year-old former Bartlett woman argued she had ineffective legal counsel at trial in 1999 — and jurors didn’t hear critical evidence backing alternate medical theories about injuries that killed Matthew Czapski.
But after a five-day hearing, Judge Robert Kleeman rejected those claims, finding Jacobazzi’s trial attorneys had all the available evidence and presented a diligent defense that focused on other aspects of the victim’s medical history.
Jacobazzi has been serving a 32-year prison term for fatally shaking Matthew in August 1994. The boy died more than a year later, at age 2.
DuPage State’s Attorney Bob Berlin said prosecutors never wavered in their position that “Jacobazzi alone is responsible” for Matthew’s untimely death.
“It is my sincerest hope that today’s ruling will put an end to any speculation as to the cause of death of Matthew Czapski and that with this ruling, Matthew’s family will finally be able to gain some closure in this horrible chapter in their lives,” Berlin said Friday.
Jacobazzi, who has insisted she never shook Matthew, is slated for parole in 2015. Her bid for a new trial was supported by the Illinois Innocence Project at the University of Illinois in Springfield.