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08-28-2019, 11:47 AM
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Babysitter Called 911 for CPR, Convicted of Murder
In the early hours of Aug. 18, 2011, a babysitter in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, called 911 to report that a 4-month-old girl in her care had stopped breathing, and a Sauk County sheriff's dispatcher stayed on the line to talk her through CPR. The infant died. The woman who placed the call was later convicted of killing her. The caller was Jeanette M. Janusiak, then 24 and pregnant, who was watching Payten Rain Shearer, the daughter of a close friend, according to court records. The recording, later played as evidence, captures the dispatcher coaching Janusiak through chest compressions as she reports the baby limp and unresponsive. Paramedics rushed Payten to a hospital, where she died. A medical examiner determined the girl had suffered fatal head injuries, including multiple skull fractures from several separate impacts, according to trial testimony. Prosecutors said the injuries were inflicted, not the result of an accident. During questioning that stretched over several hours, Janusiak's account changed, investigators testified. She first said she had fallen asleep and awoke to the baby choking, then said the child had fallen from a bed and struck a table. Sauk County prosecutors charged her with first-degree intentional homicide. After an eight-day trial in June 2014, a jury found Janusiak guilty. Circuit Judge Patrick Taggart imposed the mandatory life sentence on July 14, 2014, and ordered that she not be eligible for extended supervision for 40 years. Janusiak maintained her innocence and appealed, arguing that the statements she gave detectives were coerced and should have been kept from the jury. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals rejected that argument in 2016, and the state Supreme Court declined to take the case. On Aug. 22, 2019, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, ruling that her statements to police were voluntary. ·
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