Although Woodward was initially found guilty of second-degree murder, Judge Hiller B. Zobel reduced her conviction to involuntary manslaughter during a post-conviction relief hearing, leading to her release after serving 279 days.
[2] Five days after being admitted to Children's Hospital in Boston, Matthew Eappen fell into a coma and, after being removed from life support, died on 9 February 1997 (1997-02-09), as a result of a fractured skull and subdural hematoma.
Lois E.H. Smith, an ophthalmologist at the hospital, observed retinal hemorrhages judged characteristic of shaken baby syndrome.
[medical citation needed] Woodward was arrested by police on 5 February, and held for assault and battery initially, then murder when Matthew died.
Raskin's results were evaluated by Charles Honts, another polygrapher hired by her defense lawyers, who also claimed that she had answered truthfully when responding to relevant questions about whether she had injured him.
The prosecution, led by Assistant District Attorney Gerard Leone, along with Assistant District Attorney Martha Coakley,[8] presented eight physicians involved in Matthew's care, including a neurosurgeon, an ophthalmologist, a radiologist, two pathologists, and an expert in child abuse, who testified to their belief that his injuries had occurred as a result of violent shaking, and from his head impacting with a hard surface.
The defense presented expert medical testimony that his injury may have occurred three weeks before the date of death, implying that his parents, Sunil and Deborah Eappen, both of whom were doctors, might be implicated in negligence or abuse of the child.
She, however, claimed under cross-examination that she never noticed any slight bumps, marks, or any unusual behaviour by him at any time prior to the night he was taken to the hospital.
The lead counsel at Woodward's trial, and the architect of her medical and forensic defense, was Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project.
[22] The conviction had a side effect of defeating legislation in Massachusetts to restore capital punishment, when in November 1997, the Massachusetts House of Representatives deadlocked 80–80 on a bill to restart the practice; Rep. John P. Slattery said he had changed his mind from support to opposition after the case, saying he did not "want to be the one lying in bed some night wondering if the wrong person is being put to death".
[23][24] Patrick Barnes, a paediatric radiologist at Stanford University, was a key prosecution witness in the trial, but in 2011, said he would not give the same testimony today.
He said there had been a revolution in the understanding of head injuries in the past decade, partly due to advances in MRI brain scanning technology: "We started realizing there were a number of medical conditions that can affect a baby's brain and look like the findings that we used to attribute to shaken baby syndrome or child abuse",[25] such as infections and in utero strokes.
[2] Boston-based pediatrician and child abuse expert Dr. Eli Newberger, who treated Matthew and who was also a key prosecution witness in Woodward's trial, died in 2024.