BURLINGTON, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts daycare operator says she's still "hurting and grieving" over the death of six-month old girl in her care as she seeks to get charges against her dropped.
Pallavi Macharla said Wednesday in front of her church in Burlington that she didn't do anything to hurt Ridhima Dhekane, who became unresponsive and eventually died at the hospital March 27, 2014.
Macharla's lawyer J.W. Carney called on prosecutors to drop charges against his client because a former state medical examiner withdrew a finding that the child's death was due to head trauma. Dr. Anna McDonald now believes Dhekane died of cardiac arrest.
But Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said Tuesday she's still pursuing first-degree murder charges against Macharla. She says the chief medical examiner still stands by the homicide ruling.