Aisling Brady-McCarthy arrives in court. Image: RTÉ.

Judge wants answers over brady mccarthy trial delays

A Boston judge has ordered the State's Medical Examiner to appear before her court to explain about the delayed review of the medical evidence in the case of a Cavan woman accused of murdering a baby in her care in January 2013, reports RTÉ.

Thirty-six-year-old Aisling Brady-McCarthy from Lavey is on bail and house-arrest while awaiting trial for the death of one-year-old Rehma Sabir.

She is accused of murdering the infant who she was caring for as a nanny when the baby was discovered breathing but unconscious on January 14 and died two days.

The Massachusetts medical examiner had agreed to undertake a review of the medical evidence, following conflicting expert opinion about the nature of the baby girl's injuries.

The original medical examination concluded that the baby had died from traumatic head injuries, which was ruled a homicide. However, other evidence showed spinal injuries that occured weeks earlier when the baby was not in the care of Ms Brady-McCarthy.

The medical review was due to be completed at the beginning of June and circulated to lawyers and prosecutors but at that court hearing the examiner indicated that it would need another 30 days to complete the review.

Aisling Brady McCarthy arrived to court today with her husband and other family members and friends expecting to hear an update on the status of a special review of the medical evidence - she had been in jail for two years prior to bail.

Judge Maureen Hogan said it was not acceptable for the court, the defendent, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to have to  'wait indefinitely' for the review of the medical evidence.

Mr David Meier, one of the lawyers representing Ms Brady McCarthy said that he had spoken with the Medical Examiner's attorney, who had said that the reivew was 'ongoing' and that it would be at least the end of July before it was completed. 

Judge Maureen Hogan then said that court could not 'wait indefinitely' on the outcome of this review, especially given that a trial date has been set for October of this year.

The trial has already been significantly delayed from its original date of April 2014.

Judge Hogan ordered that a representative of the Medical Examiner, its lawyer Jacqui Faherty or another representative, appear in her court within the next two weeks to give the court an exact date of how long the review was actually going to take.