1995

PARENTS CHALLENGED IN AU PAIR CASE
Washington Post-Friday, March 24, 1995

JURY DEADLOCKS IN AU PAIR CASE JUDGE DECLARES MISTRIAL IN DEATH OF 8-WEEK-OLD LOUDOUN BOY
Washington Post-Saturday, March 25, 1995

AU PAIR JURY TILTED TOWARD NOT GUILTY' DOUBTS ABOUT FATHER CITED IN BABY'S DEATH
Washington Post-Thursday, March 30, 1995

FACING PROBATION, AU PAIR HEADS HOME MISDEMEANOR CHILD-ABUSE CONVICTION AVOIDS RETRIAL IN LOUDOUN INFANT'S DEATH
Washington Post-Thursday, April 6, 1999

PARENTS CHALLENGED IN AU PAIR CASE
By Debbi Wilgoren Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 24, 1995 ; Page D03

The lawyer for a Dutch au pair accused of shaking an infant to death last summer in Loudoun County tried yesterday to shift the blame onto the baby's parents, questioning their attentiveness to their son and their actions on the day he was hurt. But the prosecutor blamed the tragedy on the frustration of a 19-year-old woman not use to full-time infant care and responsible for 8-week-old Brenton Scott Devonshire up to 10 hours a day.

Defense lawyer Rodney G. Leffler told prospective jurors on the first day of the manslaughter trial of Anna-Corina Peeze: "There is not going to be any challenge in this case as to the cause of death. The question is whether that act was a crime, and, if you find that, then when it occurred and who did it." Peeze, of the Netherlands, is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the child's death. Doctors testified he was shaken so violently that his brain smashed repeatedly into his skull, causing fatal bleeding and tearing.

Peeze arrived at the Devonshires' home on July 19 and began caring for Brent full time on July 26. Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Barbara Walker said Peeze became frustrated with Brent's crying sometime between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Aug. 2. "She picked him up and shook him. She shook him to the point that it caused severe brain damage," Walker said. "Ultimately, it killed him."

But Leffler argued that the injury could have occurred later in the afternoon, after Stephen Devonshire returned home to work -- an accusation that Devonshire flatly denied when he took the stand. "Did you at any time shake him?" Walker asked. "No," Devonshire replied. Stephen Devonshire testified that the baby was in a Graco infant swing, apparently asleep, from the time he came home from work at 4:40 p.m. until he, his wife and Peeze finished dinner at 7 p.m.

At that time, Stephen Devonshire said, he tried to wake Brent for a bottle. The baby was cold -- his temperature measured just 93.7 degrees -- only one eye would open, and he did not respond to light or voices. Doctors who treated the infant estimated that the injury occurred between one and six hours before he arrived at the hospital. They based their estimate on the baby's temperature upon admission -- 94 degrees.

Leffler repeatedly asked Sharon Devonshire why she never called Peeze in the days after she returned to her full-time human resources job at a Chantilly company. Even when Peeze had phoned her, frantic, to say the infant wouldn't stop crying, Devonshire did not call the au pair later in the day to see how the baby was doing, Leffler said. Devonshire answered that she spoke with her husband that day after he had gone home and calmed the baby down.

In general, she said, she wanted Peeze to feel that she was trusted and that no one was looking over her shoulder. Leffler also questioned why neither of the Devonshires noticed anything wrong with their son until Sharon Devonshire and Peeze went out at 7 p.m. and Stephen Devonshire tried to wake the baby for a bottle. "Nothing you had seen in the time that you had been home caused you alarm?" he asked. "About your baby's color? About his breathing? About his heartbeat?"Sharon Devonshire answered no to each query, adding that she didn't have a stethoscope to measure his heart rate.

Testimony also focused on Peeze's experience with small children before arriving in the United States to care for Brent. Leffler, quoting from sections of her au pair application that showed that she had never cared for infants full time, suggested that the Devonshires had used poor judgment in hiring her. The allegations against Peeze last summer accelerated criticism of the U.S. au pair program, which since 1986 has brought tens of thousands of young Western Europeans here as babysitters with a federal stamp of approval but no government screening or training.

Last month, the federal agency that administers the program started barring au pairs from caring for infants younger than 3 months and requiring those who care for children up to 2 years old to have six months of documented child-care experience. Walker and Leffler questioned prospective jurors extensively about whether they had children, used child care or believed that mothers should stay home from work to care for their youngsters. Nine female and three male jurors were selected to hear the case. All but four have children.

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.
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JURY DEADLOCKS IN AU PAIR CASE JUDGE DECLARES MISTRIAL IN DEATH OF 8-WEEK-OLD LOUDOUN BOY
By Debbi Wilgoren Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 25, 1995 ; Page B01

A Loudoun County judge declared a mistrial last night in the manslaughter trial of Anna-Corina Peeze after jurors said they were "hopelessly deadlocked" over whether the 19-year-old Dutch au pair shook her infant charge to death. A new trial was scheduled for April 20.

Sharon Devonshire, the baby's mother, leaned against her husband's shoulder and sobbed as the 12 grim-faced jurors filed out of the courtroom. Several jurors were in tears when they left the Leesburg courthouse moments later. None would speak with a reporter. They had deliberated for nearly seven hours about the death last summer of 8-week-old Brenton Scott Devonshire, who physicians testified had suffered fatal brain damage from a violent shaking.

Peeze was alone with Brent in the home of Sharon and Stephen Devonshire in Ashburn until about 4:30 p.m. Aug. 2. The prosecutor said the child was injured earlier that afternoon. Peeze's attorney suggested that the baby's father, Stephen Devonshire, could have shaken him after Peeze and Sharon Devonshire left the house about 7 p.m. "I'm sad. I hoped to win," defense lawyer Rodney G. Leffler told reporters outside the courthouse after Circuit Court Judge Thomas D. Horne set a new trial date.

Leffler said he would do things differently in the second trial but wouldn't elaborate. Peeze and her father, who came from Amsterdam for the trial, had made reservations to fly back to the Netherlands last night in anticipation of acquittal, Leffler said. Peeze remains free on $10,000 bond in the custody of an unidentified Northern Virginia family. "She's just exhausted. She's exhausted, and she wants to go home -- wherever home is these days," said a Dutch citizen who lives in the Washington area and befriended Peeze after her arrest.

The woman would not give her name. The two-day trial included vivid testimony about the baby's four-day deterioration as his brain swelled and eventually ceased to function. In an emotional closing argument, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Barbara Walker held up a snapshot of a healthy Brent in his parents' arms and reminded the jury how helpless he was. "Look how tiny Brent was," Walker said. "He was under {Peeze's} care. She picked him up and shook him."

Stephen Devonshire testified that the baby appeared to be sleeping, but was unconscious, when he arrived home from work about 4:30 p.m. No one noticed Brent's injuries until his father tried to wake him for a bottle after his wife and Peeze left at 7 p.m., both parents said. Leffler contended that the baby was sleeping all that time and suggested that Stephen Devonshire injured him in the evening. "That baby was fine at 7 o'clock," Leffler said. "One hour later . . . he's dying."

Peeze did not testify, and Leffler called no witnesses in her defense. The killing touched a raw nerve in the Washington area, which has the highest percentage of two-career couples in the nation. Like many area families, the Devonshires worked long hours at demanding jobs. Stephen Devonshire, an engineer, left for work before 7 a.m. His wife, a human resources professional, was out the door by 7:30. They testified that they agonized over child-care options before hiring Peeze through a U.S.-government approved cultural exchange program.

In the Netherlands, Peeze's story has generated great interest. Newspapers printed front-page accounts of how Stephan Peeze, a retired gas station attendant battling cancer, went to Loudoun to be with his daughter after Brent was hospitalized, but was forced to the ground and handcuffed when police moved in to arrest her.

In December, Peeze's mother died. Horne denied a request to let the teenager return home for the funeral. "Most {Dutch} people feel she is innocent," said Bernard Hammelburg, one of about 20 Dutch journalists gathered at Loudoun County Circuit Court. "It's the feeling that . . . a Dutch girl doesn't do these things -- impossible that she would do these things."

Staff writer Rajiv Chandrasekaran contributed to this story. Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.
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AU PAIR JURY TILTED TOWARD NOT GUILTY' DOUBTS ABOUT FATHER CITED IN BABY'S DEATH
By Debbi Wilgoren Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 30, 1995 ; Page B01

The Loudoun County jury that deadlocked in last week's trial of a Dutch au pair accused of fatally shaking an infant voted 7 to 5 to acquit her, with the majority believing that the baby could have been killed by his father, according to several jurors. Jurors who voted to convict Anna-Corina Peeze, 19, of involuntary manslaughter believed that she shook 8-week-old Brenton Scott Devonshire violently because she was frustrated with his crying, according to interviews with six jurors this week.

But the jurors who voted to acquit Peeze argued that the father could have shaken the baby, based on the approximate time of his injuries, the interviewed jurors said. "Daddy was alone with that baby for an hour," said one juror, a 34-year-old mother of two who spoke on the condition that she not be identified. "It could go either way. The nanny could have shook him, or the father could have shook him. But I am convinced that they didn't have enough to hang the nanny."

William O. Snead III, an attorney for Brenton's parents, said yesterday that accusations against Stephen and Sharon Devonshire, which were first made by Peeze's attorney during the trial, are "unfair and out of context. It is disheartening to think that any juror would have been so distracted by it." Three jurors who believe Peeze was guilty said in interviews that it seemed unlikely the father would have grown angry enough to shake the baby in the time they were alone.

"Nothing in the testimony pointed to the father," said Robert D. Wright, 31, a bank vice president who lives in Sterling. "There was no indication that he ever showed any frustration." Peeze is scheduled to be retried with a new jury April 20. For her to be convicted or acquitted, jurors must reach a unanimous decision.

Jurors from the first trial said a unanimous decision seemed unlikely almost as soon as the emotional, seven-hour deliberations began Friday. "People on both sides were very adamant," said the jury foreman, Zoe Sowers, a 46-year-old Purcellville homemaker, who wavered at first but ended up voting to convict. "Most people stayed right where they were. No one changed in the last three hours. It was so obvious we weren't getting anywhere."

The prosecution alleged that Peeze shook Brenton on Aug. 2 at the home of his parents about an hour before Stephen Devonshire returned from his engineering job at 4:30 p.m. Both Devonshires testified that Brenton lay in his infant swing, apparently sleeping, while they and Peeze ate dinner about 6:30 p.m. Stephen Devonshire testified that shortly after 7 p.m., while Peeze and his wife were out running errands, he tried to wake Brenton for a bottle and discovered that the baby was unconscious and unresponsive. Brenton's temperature was 93.7 degrees, the father testified.

Peeze's attorney, Rodney G. Leffler, suggested during the trial that Stephen Devonshire could have shaken the baby while his wife and Peeze were out. Two jurors who voted to acquit Peeze said they found that scenario plausible because doctors testified that the baby was injured one to six hours before he arrived at Reston Hospital Center at 9 p.m. "We think he lied," said Danny E. Osteen, explaining what he felt and what others voting for acquittal said of Stephen Devonshire's account. "We thought the dad had a lot to lose here. He and his wife seemed very career-oriented and didn't seem to care much about the baby," said Osteen, 44, a Leesburg engineer.

Both Osteen and the juror who asked not to be identified said they and others on the panel were troubled by testimony that neither parent touched their son when they returned from work on the day he was shaken or called home to check on their baby in the week that Peeze cared for him.

The female juror also noted that neither parent wept on the witness stand. But jurors who voted to convict said it was unlikely that Stephen Devonshire would have known enough to lie about the infant's temperature as a coverup. Those jurors also cited Peeze's difficulty in calming the baby three days before the shaking and pointed to a neighbor's testimony that once Brenton's injuries were discovered, Peeze said repeatedly: "We had a normal day. It's not like I threw him or anything." They said the statement indicated that Peeze knew how the baby had been injured.

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.
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FACING PROBATION, AU PAIR HEADS HOME MISDEMEANOR CHILD-ABUSE CONVICTION AVOIDS RETRIAL IN LOUDOUN INFANT'S DEATH
By Debbi Wilgoren Washington Post Staff Writeer
Thursday, April 6, 1995 ; Page D01

A Dutch au pair acknowledged yesterday that the evidence was strong enough to convict her of misdemeanor child abuse in the shaking death of a Loudoun County infant, after lawyers said neither the au pair nor the infant's parents could bear to go through her retrial on a felony charge.

Sobbing "I didn't do it," Anna-Corina Peeze, 19, nevertheless agreed to enter the plea rather than risk conviction on the charge of involuntary manslaughter and up to 10 years in prison. The plea agreement required Peeze to return to Amsterdam immediately and begin serving 12 months of probation there.

She left the Washington area yesterday and was to arrive in the Netherlands this morning. Under the terms of the plea, Peeze did not admit committing any offense but acknowledged that the evidence was strong enough to convict her of the misdemeanor charge. The agreement requires her to report regularly to the Dutch government's probation service and receive psychological counseling. It also forbids her to care for children for two years. "I'm still scared. But I'm happy I'm going home -- and hopeful," Peeze said in a brief interview. "I'm really sorry for the family, that this happened to them. But it happened to me, too."

A Circuit Court jury deadlocked last month over whether Peeze killed 8-week-old Brenton Scott Devonshire, of Ashburn, who was shaken so violently on Aug. 2 that his brain was fatally damaged. Five jurors voted to convict her; seven voted to acquit. "This case could hang again and again," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Barbara Walker said. "There comes a time when this case has to come to a close."

Defense attorney Rodney G. Leffler said that Peeze was too distraught to risk a second trial, which had been scheduled for April 20, and that she was desperate to return home with her father, a former gas station attendant who is battling stomach cancer. "The only person her father has is her. . . . He needs her to take care of him," Leffler said of Stephan Peeze, who sat through the first trial and was in court again yesterday for the plea agreement. Peeze's mother died of a stroke while visiting her in Loudoun late last year.

Her brother was killed in a car accident in Amsterdam years ago. Stephen and Sharon Devonshire hired Peeze last July through a U.S. government-approved au pair program that brings more than 10,000 European babysitters to this country each year. The Devonshires spent a week with her before returning to work full time, and Peeze cared for Brenton alone for a week. On Aug. 2, she was responsbile for him from about 7:15 a.m. to about 4:30 p.m., when Stephen Devonshire came home. The Devonshires testified that the infant's injuries went unnoticed until his father tried to wake him for a bottle shortly after 7 p.m. Leffler argued in Peeze's defense that Stephen Devonshire could have shaken his son at that time, while Sharon Devonshire and Peeze were out running errands.

In an interview, the Devonshires said their relief at the plea agreement was muted by their continued grief. "Nothing would have made us happy," Sharon Devonshire said. "Destroying Anna's life certainly wouldn't have." The case struck a nerve in the Washington area, where an unusually high percentage of parents work full time and quality child care is a paramount concern. It also raised questions about the quality of the au pair program and helped lead to stricter regulations for the program.

Both Peeze and Sharon Devonshire cried quietly yesterday as Peeze entered her plea. Circuit Court Judge Thomas D. Horne then took the unusual step of asking Peeze, who did not testify during the first trial, for her version of the events of Aug. 2. The teenager's tears grew into sobs. "I'm sorry, Judge," she said haltingly, shoulders heaving, as she tried to regain composure. "Your Honor, it was a normal day." At Horne's suggestion, Peeze switched to Dutch. "She fed the baby and changed the diaper and she burped the baby," said her interpreter, Tine Beam. "And she watched the baby constantly."

When Horne asked if there was anything else, Beam quoted Peeze as saying, "I didn't do it. I don't know what else to tell." Peeze, who had been free on $10,000 bond and living with an unidentified Loudoun family, waited in the Circuit Court clerk's office for more than an hour after the hearing to get her passport and release papers. Her mood brightened slowly as she realized that her eight-month trip through the U.S. judicial system was over.

She chatted with her translator about her homeland and marveled at a newspaper photographer's camera equipment. Peeze will turn 20 next month. She said she did not know what she would do once she returned to Amsterdam. She has completed high school and, according to her au pair application, had dreamed of a career working with children. Shortly after noon, she and her father left the court complex, smiling. Leffler said they planned to catch a flight yesterday from Dulles International Airport to New York and go on to the Netherlands from there.

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.

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