Woman Charged With Murder, Endangerment : Defense Says Sitter Did Not Mean to Hurt Babies

A Canyon Country baby-sitter charged with murdering one infant and endangering two others did not intentionally hurt the children and in fact treated them as if they were her own, her attorney told jurors Thursday.

The injuries suffered by the infants were of the type “that occur routinely when somebody has a baby,” defense attorney Larry H. Layton argued during opening statements in the San Fernando Superior Court trial of baby-sitter Vicki Maas, 28.

Maas is charged with murdering David Allen Duncan, who was 6 months old when he died Jan. 8. She is also accused of endangering the lives of Nicholas McNerney, a 7-month-old infant who suffered a broken leg in June, 1987, and Travis Hoyt, a 6-month-old whose ear and head were bruised in August, 1987.

Maas’ trial began Thursday and is expected to last about 2 months. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, which means that if she is convicted, a second phase of the trial will be held to determine whether she was sane at the time of the offenses.

Hired by Couple

Maas had been hired by Larry and Karen Duncan of Canyon Country to care for their twin infants while they were at work. She had been caring for them for 3 days before David’s death, court records show. David’s sister, Amanda, was unharmed.

Maas has told authorities that David was playing on her living room floor about 7:15 a.m. Jan. 7 when he slumped over and stopped breathing. She ran to a neighbor’s house and asked him to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation, then called paramedics, Layton said.

The infant died at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys the next day from what doctors have said was a swelling in his brain brought on by shaking. Soon after the incident, Maas admitted to Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies that she had shaken the baby.

“Yeah, she shook the baby,” Layton told jurors Thursday. “When asked how she shook the baby, she said: ‘Not very hard. Not any more than I would shake my own child.’ ”

In her opening statement, Deputy Dist. Atty. Pamela Davis-Springer said the three couples whose children were involved trusted the baby-sitter. Nicholas is the son of Nancy and Joseph McNerney of Acton and Travis is the child of Catherine and Michael Hoyt of Canyon Country.

Initially, when the parents questioned Maas about their childrens’ bruises and also about instances of listless behavior and irritability, they accepted her explanations, Davis-Springer said.

“They were all innocent-sounding explanations,” she said.

In testimony after opening statements, Nancy McNerney said she “got a good impression” from Maas and “liked her” when she placed Nicholas in Maas’ care.

Nancy McNerney said her son came home after his first day with Maas with a bruise under his eye. Maas told her that he had fallen asleep on his pacifier. The next day, when Nicholas appeared to have an injured leg, Maas told Nancy McNerney that he fell down and twisted his leg under him.

The day after, when she brought Nicholas back to Maas’ house, he became upset, Nancy McNerney testified.

“Nicholas looked at her and began to cry,” Nancy McNerney said. “I wasn’t sure what he was trying to tell me.”