Judge Cuts Murder Sentence For Burlington Babysitter

BURLINGTON, MA — Saying her sentence was "not consonant with justice," a Middlesex Superior Court judge reduced the sentence of a Burlington woman convicted of second-degree murder in the 2014 death of a 6-month-old baby she was caring for. Pallavi Macharla, 44, of Burlington, had been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years following her conviction in May. Judge Kenneth Fishman said in a ruling earlier this month that conflicting medical theories presented during the four-week trial that ended in May made the second-degree murder verdict unsustainable, given "the presence of such highly contested and inconsistent evidence."

As a result of the ruling, Macharla now stands convicted of involuntary manslaughter. A new sentencing date was scheduled for Sept. 27. While the charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years, state sentencing guidelines call for sentences of no more than five years.

The "inconsistent evidence" stemmed from a decision by a former Massachusetts medical examiner to change the cause of death of the six-month-old girl from "homicide" to "undetermined." Anna McDonald was performing her first autopsy involving suspected fatal baby shaken syndrome on Ridhima Dhekane after the child died from injuries sustained in Macharla's care in 2014. McDonald initially ruled the death a homicide. But more than a year after her initially ruling, and after she had left for a job in North Carolina, McDonald changed the cause of death to "undetermined."

During Macharla's trial, McDonald testified she changed the cause of death after reading medical articles that contradicted her previous beliefs on the case. McDonald left her job in Massachusetts for her current position working under Dr. Patrick Lantz of Wake Forest University. Lantz has been a defense witness and has been paid for his testimony as an expert witness in numerous shaken baby cases throughout the U.S.

Macharla's trial renewed scrutiny on a handful of specialists who testify as expert witnesses for the defense in shaken baby cases. Lantz has frequently testified that conditions suggesting abuse could manifest in cases where the child was accidentally dropped or had an infection or disease.