With Murder Charges Dropped, Nanny In Cambridge Baby Death Case Hopes To Head Home To Ireland

Murder charges have been dropped against a nanny who had been accused of killing a Cambridge baby in her care two years ago, and now the woman is hoping to head home to Ireland.

Since her arrest two years ago, Aisling Brady McCarthy has denied murdering 1-year-old Rehma Sabir, a baby in her care.

The Middlesex County district attorney dropped charges after the state's medical examiner, who had performed the autopsy, ruled that the death of Sabir was not a homicide after all.

"The medical examiner issued findings saying that based on what she was then reviewing, she was changing her opinion," said Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan.

The medical examiner said Sabir died of complications of a brain hemorrhage of unknown cause, and not the result of blunt force trauma to the head, and amended the manner of death from "homicide" to "undetermined."

"She's relieved, scared and absolutely thankful to the medical examiner's office for doing this re-review and, quite frankly, finding the truth," Melinda Thompson, McCarthy's attorney, said Monday evening.

Thompson said her client pretty much couldn't stop crying out of joy at the news the charges against her have been dropped.

"She was charged with a crime that never occurred, and quite frankly, she never should have spent two-and-a-half years in jail," Thompson said.

Thompson called the handling of the prosecution a complete disgrace.

"There was a rush to judgment," she said. "This was a shaken-baby case 24 hours after this child died, and then from there, there was really no investigation done, medically or otherwise, and Ms. McCarthy was arrested a week later."

Thompson blames the rush to judgment she says occurred on the conclusions of one doctor at Boston Children's Hospital. She says the state never conducted a complete medical investigation.

"That happened as the result of 10 doctors from across the country and the world who volunteered on behalf of Ms. McCarthy to investigate this case, and that investigation should have been done before she was arrested," said Thompson.

But Ryan is defending her handling of the case.

"At whatever stage information is brought to us, we look at that," said Ryan. "Obviously, information that's brought to the medical examiner's office, we expect that they will look at that as well."

With the criminal case dismissed, her lawyer said McCarthy is eager to finally return to Ireland.

But she can’t do that yet. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has alleged that McCarthy had overstayed her visa. When charges were brought against her, she was put on a detainer that prevents her from leaving this country.

McCarthy's attorneys are now trying to persuade ICE to lift the detainer and let her go home.