New Jersey Supreme Court Bars Use of Shaken Baby Syndrome Testimony in Landmark Ruling

In a first-of-its-kind decision in the United States, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that prosecutors may not present expert testimony claiming that shaking alone can cause severe infant injuries sufficient to support child abuse charges. The 6-1 ruling scrutinized the reliability of the long-used “Shaken Baby Syndrome” or Abusive Head Trauma diagnosis, noting that scientific consensus across relevant fields—particularly biomechanical engineering—is lacking.

The decision came in two cases involving fathers Darryl Nieves and Michael Cifelli, both charged in 2017 with abusing their infant sons. Lower courts had previously rejected the state’s expert testimony, and the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed those decisions, emphasizing that speculative or insufficiently supported scientific claims cannot meet the standard for admissible evidence. While charges against Nieves were dismissed in 2022, Cifelli’s case remains pending, and his legal team plans to seek dismissal in light of the ruling.

The court noted that prosecutors may still pursue abuse charges if supported by other evidence and left open the possibility that the diagnosis could become admissible in the future should stronger scientific backing emerge. Justice Fabiana Pierre-Louis wrote that scientific understanding is continuously evolving, while the lone dissenter, Justice Rachel Wainer Apter, cautioned that the decision gives disproportionate weight to one scientific discipline over the broader medical community.

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