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Death from 1985 shaken baby case leads to murder charge

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — A Florida woman is charged with murder stemming from a decades-old shaken baby case.

Terry McKirchy pleaded no contest in 1985 to attempted murder for shaking 5-month-old Benjamin Dowling so severely that he suffered permanent brain damage.

She got a light sentence — weekends in jail for three months and probation.

But when Dowling died in 2019 at age 35, the medical examiner said it was because of the injuries he suffered as a baby.

A grand jury recently indicted McKirchy and she was arrested in Texas. She could now get a life sentence.

She has long said she never hurt Dowling.