BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- A Dexter woman accused of having shaken her infant daughter has pled guilty.
Megan Kirby was arrested in August 2013 and charged with the Class B felony of child abuse and the Class C felony of endangering the welfare of a child.
At a Wednesday hearing, Kirby made an open guilty plea to the Class B felony. The Class C felony charge was dismissed in exchange for the plea.
Kirby made an "open plea," which means that there was no agreement in place for the sentence, and that it has been left in the hands of the trial court.
Kirby will next appear on July 16 before Judge Robert Mayer to be sentenced.
The charges stem from an incident that occurred on Aug. 20, 2013. Early that morning, Kirby claims to have found her six-month-old child in bed seizing and not breathing.
The child was taken to the home of a neighbor who performed minor emergency procedures to get the child breathing as they awaited an ambulance. Later treatment at Children's Hospital in St. Louis resulted in the filing of charges against Kirby.
A November 2013 hearing brought many details of the case to light.
Kirby's neighbor, Richard Murray, a former Emergency medical Technician (EMT), testified that immediately after the incident, Kirby brought the baby to his home, pleading for help.
Murray began doing rescue breaths while they awaited the arrival of an ambulance.
Kirby told Murray, according to his testimony, that she laid the child down after dinner, then heard her coughing. When she went in to check on her, the child was not breathing.
Dr. Adrienne Aztemis of Washington University School of Medicine Children's Hospital also testified as to the nature of the infant child's injuries.
Aztemis is the Director of Child Abuse Pediatrics and was immediately concerned the child had suffered a non-accidental injury.
She explained the process through which they go in such cases at the hospital, and detailed interviews with Kirby that changed as the case developed.
Aztemis said they diagnosed the child with Abusive Head Trauma, meaning that the injury caused oxygen to be cut off from the brain for an unknown amount of time.
She testified that in no way could the child have done this to itself.
Aztemis also said they found multiple fractures, not consistent with the time of the accident because they were "well into the healing process."
Patricia Gray, a worker with the Stoddard County Children's Division, testified that Kirby informed her she was being treated for the "baby blues," a less severe form of post-partum depression.
Gray stated that Kirby had previously taken training in regard to how easy a person could accidentally harm an infant.
She also stated that Kirby told her that her mother stayed with her for six weeks after the child was born "because she didn't know how to take care of the baby."
Dexter Police Dept. Cory Mills testified regarding his own interviews with Kirby following the initial contact he received from the hospital.
During an interview, Kirby is reported to have acknowledged shaking the baby twice on the night in question when she discovered the baby was not breathing.
Kirby said she did not believe it had been hard enough to harm the infant.