Jeremiah Callaghan was just 11 months old when prosecutors say his step-grandmother was beaten to death
A 35-year-old step-grandmother has been released on bail for six years after allegedly beating and shaking an 11-month-old baby to death.
Shanica Callaghan was dragged into Queens Supreme Court in New York City in handcuffs on Thursday, but was released and got into a car outside.
Her husband's grandson, Jeramiah, died on September 6, 2017 with a skull fracture and injuries to his brain, neck and spinal cord.
A medical examiner found that he died as a result of “violent, repetitive forces of acceleration and deceleration and significant traumatic force applied to [his] head and body'.
Callaghan, who has three young children of his own, was arrested on April 24, 2018 and charged with second-degree murder, first-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
Since then, the case has made its way through the courts and on Tuesday morning she appeared before Judge Ushir Pandit-Durant.
Callaghan, wearing a thick black puffer jacket, high-heeled boots and her hair in a tight bun, stared at her feet as her lawyer addressed the court.
Shanica Callaghan (left) was dragged in handcuffs before the Queens Supreme Court in New York City on Thursday, charged with manslaughter
Callaghan, 35, was released on bail six years after Jeramiah's death and got into the passenger seat of a car outside court
After leaving the court, she crossed the street and got into the passenger seat of a dark blue car. She took off her jacket to reveal a deep striped top underneath.
Court documents describe how Jeramiah was rushed to the hospital after returning from a family outing to Brookville Playground in Rosedale on August 31, 2017.
Jeramiah's grandfather was granted sole custody of him by the Texas State Department of Family and Protective Services in 2016 because the boy's mother, his daughter, was a drug addict.
Callaghan carried the baby as her husband walked ahead of her with their three children, who pushed their bicycles along the sidewalk.
She claimed that Jeramiah was healthy and playing normally that day, and suffered no injuries before they returned home around 7:30 p.m.
Her husband was staying outside their apartment on 144th Avenue near 231st Street in Springfield Gardens when Callaghan took the baby inside to feed him, but it wasn't long before she frantically called him inside.
Callaghan told police she changed his diaper and gave him a bottle. While she was burping him, she said the baby started vomiting and had trouble breathing.
Her husband discovered Jeremiah was vomiting and gasping for air, he told police, and called an ambulance to rush the baby to the hospital as he went into cardiac arrest.
Callaghan, wearing a thick black puffer jacket, high-heeled boots and her hair in a tight bun, stared at her feet as her lawyer addressed the court
After leaving the court, she crossed the street and got into the passenger seat of a dark blue car
He was transferred to Cohen Children's Medical Center and placed on life support, where he remained until he died a week later.
While there, doctors found brain hemorrhages, extensive retinal hemorrhages in both eyes, a detached left retina and severe spinal cord injury, according to court documents.
In addition to these gruesome injuries, an autopsy also revealed the skull fracture.
“In a heartbreaking turn of events, the little boy who should be learning to walk and talk today is dead and buried,” Queens Attorney Richard Brown said at the time.
Callaghan will appear in court again in February and faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.